86BravoPapa

To the seasoned professionals on here; what are some of the most vital, eye-opening things you've learned throughout your careers? The 'ah ha' moments in the cockpit. Not about home life, flight attendants, or bidding, etc...

Things that made a difference in how you fly, make decisions, flight plan, evaluate weather, etc.?

kevbo

Never take pills with alcohol! You may have some splainin to do.

Tippy

Any decision you make be able to back it up in court.

Droopy

To never stop learning.

Not to be flippant, but every time I've had to demonstrate superior aviation skills, it's been a result of a complete failure to demonstrate superior judgment... And it always seems to happen when I start thinking I know everything...

86BravoPapa

I don't know why anyone would take that as a flippant response; it seems pretty insightful and considering there are 10,0000 and 20,000+ hour pilots that discuss contiuously learning something new every time the still fly, I certainly don't feel I've even began to really broach the subject of aviation with 300TT.

JohnBurke

Stay out of powerlines.

TiredSoul

Before you do something stupid think about how you would explain it to the NTSB judge.
Never assume the other guy knows what he’s doing and paying attention as he’s thinking the same of you.
That’s about the gist of it.

86BravoPapa

That brings up a question I've had for awhile; as an FO, what do you do if the Captain does or is about to do something seriously wrong that would jeopardize the safety of the flight? In otherwords how do you prevent from riding the aircraft into the ground when you don't have final say?

Tippy

Dont EVER not say something! worst that can happen is you look foolish... And very few captains are going to ridicule you for speaking your mind. Keep in mind even if you don't have "final authority" the NTSB is going to scrutinize both pilots equally. I have saved captains bacon and they have saved mine. That's why there is two of us up there. And there have been times i have said something but i was wrong. I have thick skin so don"t mind if I'm wrong. There was one time out of the corner of my eye i saw an airplane pushing back creating an optical illusion and thought we were gonna hit the AC in front of us so i jumped on the brakes, and he didn't override me unit I said oh **** I'm sorry, explained what I saw and thought was going to happen and he thanked me for acting even though I was wrong.

However don't and try and be a super FO and think you know everything. Look listen and learn and use your learned judgement to make it a safe fun environment.

MadmanX2

Things I have learned....

Never pass up a bathroom.

Never trust a fart.

Never ignore an erection.

Seriously, every flight decision, weather evaluations and so on are different for every flight. There is not a specific formula to help make decisions. Except, of course, for weather below minimums, etc.... Each and every flight is different with different situations and different decisions to be made.

But basically what I learned is Know your capabilities, know your airplanes capabilities and always have a way out.