Everyone knows phl is bad even management but remember they are the one who hire them. That's a reflection of bad management in phl but they are starting to change.

 

FlyerJosh,

If you wouldnt mind posting the rest of the list that you have? The ones that you posted so far are really good and o so true!

 

I had one guy tell me when I was an FO on the 727 to close my eyes. He asked my what I saw and I said "nothing". He said, "that's what's yours in this cockpit", and we all laughed. What a great sense of humor...........and something that helps to keep the cockpit a fun place to be. When it's not fun, it's time to find something else to do. A few of the things I do to make the job more enjoyable:

1. I always recognize my entire crew by name on my welcome aboard announcement and tell the pax how honored I am to have such a fine crew flying with me today. The FO's and FA's appreciate being more than a face and it gives them a sense of pride.

2. Unless it's been a while since I've flown, I'll always offer the FO his choice of legs (WX withstanding), and let him make the PA's and fly the legs if he has friends or family aboard. I can choose any leg I want, but I always found it the mark of the best CA's I flew with who didn't hog the good legs. 16 EWR legs in a row as an FO was my record.........NOT very fun or interesting to say the least. If their's an odd number of legs, I'll offer it to the FO or we can "spin" the heading knob to see who gets it: even I fly, odd he flies. Works great.

3. I always tell the FA's they're welcome to come up and chat, take a powernap, or see what we do. Newhires are thrilled to come up and see what we do, and love the view we have.

4. On a longer pairing, I'll try to take everyone out for lunch or dinner at least once. I realize most FA's and FO's aren't making much money, and it does wonders for the backend crew to know their CA "cares". I also try to buy Starbucks for everyone during the trip.

But overall, I think just having a good time with everyone makes this job one of the best. Happy Holidays everyone!!

 

Good post erwbased.. all good stuff, hope my captian does all that when my time comes!

 

Philly stinks, pure and simple. Doesn't matter what airline you're working for. Must be something in the water or the air, or maybe the guys who work there are like all airline management folks.... they're all related. Anyway that's one airport that I don't miss going into or out of.

My cruise brief in the Mad Dog, was: no secret sleeping and no secret typing. Period.

 

EWR, I hope I get to fly with more captains like you.

I've been doing this for a few months now, which isn't very long. However in that time I've seen good and bad. Being new, I'm still trying to figure out the most efficient way to do some things and still be within the SOP. I ask a lot of questions. I really like it when a captain gives advice.

I'm also not huge on captains that don't talk. The ones that turn the intercom off and grab the paper right at 10,000ft on every leg. On long legs this can make for what seems like hours. The only two things I won't talk about up front are religion and politics. It only takes once to realize it's not a good idea.

 

Thanks for the nice words. I usually start my briefings off with something like, "we come into this cockpit as friends and we leave as friends and if I say or do anything that offends you, please let me know as I don't mean to do that ". I've found this really opens the door to conversation without fear of getting chewed out. My cockpit is run in a very professional, yet laid back manner. Putting a new FO at ease is always my first priority and by the end of the trip, most have gained a bit of knowledge and made a friend in the process. Being a captain requires having to bite your tongue every now and then and letting an FO make mistakes to learn, but their is always the right way and wrong way to do things. I've had a few FO's have the power pulled without checking to see that the APU is up running and on line. It gets their attention and they apologize a lot, but it's something they'll do once and learn what the results are........... Reloading the box and explaining to the FA's what you did is always a bit humbling, but EVERYONE does it once. But their are CA's that'll jump all over you for doing stuff like that and in the end, it only breaks good CRM down and is not condusive to a nice cockpit. Learn from the guys you fly with and take the good stuff with you to the left seat. After all, having fun is what this is all about.

 

I echo EWR's thoughts.

Keeping the lines of communication open is the key to safety. That includes the flight attendants, gate agents, rampers, ect. If you don't, you can quickly find yourself in an aircraft that was designed to be flown by two people, actually being flown by one.

Another important point is to let the FO's fly. There is nothing worse than a captain who points out every little mistake or deviation. Those are the ones who have to keep the airplane flying in their "little box of comfort." To me that is just a sign that they are not capable of flying outside of it. When I flew with those guys from the right seat I was very worried about what they would do if things really hit the fan.

All in all, you will figure out what works from experience. Have fun!

 

great post I agree with a lot of what you said. I hope I can do some of the things you have mentioned when I upgrade in a few months. I especially liked the spinning the heading bug on an odd leg

 

EXCELLENT point. I hated flying with CA's who briefed they "flew by the book" (ie., "standard"), yet the book they flew from must have been written by themselves. On landing rollout, there's nothing more aggravating than a CA grabbing the controls seconds after touchdown and yelling "I have the aircraft" and totally botching a nice landing by slamming on the brakes and cowboying the aircraft to a stop or quick turnoff. It's hard to learn an airplane when you can't get the feel of it. I also encourage the copilots to make decisions on which runway they'd like to land on, which approach they'd like to fly, or if they'd like any shortcuts enroute. Making them feel like an IMPORTANT part of the crew goes a long way to having a great trip. All the comments I'm seeing here are helping me to add to the things that I'll incorporate on future flights.