Your turn: The best captain I ever flew with...
 

I'm asking the fine aviators here what traits/sayings/techniques/charm/humor have you heard or seen that can enlighten and improve the rest of us?

It doesn't have to be a captain, even though I titled it that.

Ready for an incoming education... there's bound to be some good stuff out there.

I'll start- on the takeoff briefing:
"After 80 knots, I'll only reject for a Bell, Bang, or a Swerve."

Some of the things that I've picked up along the way from people that I admire:

Take the time to learn the names of the people that affect your ability to succeed and say hello to them by name when you see them. (IE Rampers, agents, etc). By doing so, you're most likely to get assistance before other folks who haven't done so.

Do the best that you can at your own job and encourage others to do the same.

Don't get bent out of shape about the things you can't control (like staffing, lost bags, full gates).

Don't take out your frustration on the ramp staff- odds are they are 3 people short, working in ****ty conditions for marginal pay. Yelling at them sure isn't going to get things done any faster.

Life is too short to spend it screaming at operations over the radio.

Take a moment each workday to smile at a customer and thank them for flying.

Give cockpit tours. When you do, take a photo with your own camera and offer to email it to your passengers.

Always carry an updated resume and business card. You never know when something better might come along.

If it stops being fun, figure out why. If you can't, it's time to consider something new.

Invest in yourself and your family before all else.

Establish a good relationship with the CP and schedulers whenever possible. Doing so can make life easier down the road.

Be flexible.

There's a whole bunch more, but I don't want to bore you! :)

Treat your aircraft like you owned it yourself.

I was once told to drink cheap beer while on the road.. the cost savings over a career could be huge.. if you drink that is ;)

True, unless you are in PHL. In which case they probably deserve it. I recently heard a story that after a manager yelled at a group of rampers for not doing their job, they decided to torch his car in the employee lot.. great group of guys they have in Philly; the city of brotherly love (extra emphasis on brothA-ly)

(Turbine multi aircraft) "Count to 5 before doing anything with red lights i.e. don't rush..." (Those of you flying SE still, use this time to find the field you're going to land in :D)

I guess this is the real reason everyone hates PHL so much.

As a new guy I am grateful for captains who realize that they are teachers, whether they are getting the override or not. I appreciate them letting me figure out the jet on my own(within the bounds of safety, of course), rather than forcing me to do it their way.

As a Captain, when making PA's, talking on the radio, speaking with the F/A's or rampers, don't say "I..." It may ultimately be your ship, but we are a crew and I am a valuable part of it.

I always make sure I say "we" at any chance I get.

The best one I ever flew with was me as Captain! I knew when I bid that trip for the whole month I never had to fly with an A%%hole again! HA!

Seriously, the Skippers that let you fly the jet and make your own decisions not telling you when to put flaps out or how to "fly." Man, that gets on my nerves. Yes, if it's safety or your uncomfortable by all means speak up.

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...........:p 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! :D

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.

Red Flag:

"I'm a by the book kinda guy, I'm pretty mellow, relaxed, so let's just go and have some fun..."

the guys that are...don't have to tell you that...and there's probably a reason that I (as a reserve) am flying with them to PVR in December...and it ain't b/c the fo doesn't like mexico...

The best that I've ever flown with have been very by the book, but cool about it. They enjoy their job, and avoid complaining.

Totally agree, the few guys that told me just how laid back they were turned out to be nitpicky micromanagers. The guys who also describe themselves as being "by the book" often are not. I think the good captains really do let their actions do the talking. The best captains I've flown with were professional, by the book, pleasant, and constructive and nonconfrontational in their criticism. For me, these are some of the qualities I admire most about the captains.
I like guys who are by the book because I know exactly what to expect... what annoys me is captains who claim they are by the book but instead are very inconsistent. Like they would ignore/do the opposite of some things the book says, and with other things they very nitpicky.
Lately, the most annoying thing though has been this captain who is like a backseat driver.. he is still a CFI in the worst sense who constantly nags me about things like being 3 knots fast (literally, he got on my case about being 3 knots too fast). I haven't had to fly with many guys like this, but for me it's probably the most annoying thing in the cockpit.. like 1000x worse than a captain laying a really smell one on you.

Works great with the ladies!

Best captains I have ever flown with (exceptmyselfofcourse...)

- Guys who have a very good oversight of the 'big picture'. Whatever that means. But you know those folks when you meet them.

- Pilots who never lose their cool.

- Pilots who are competent and precise and thorough but don't lose the ability to have a lot of fun doing the job.

- Pilots who act as leaders. Again, nebulous. You know a leader when you work with one. And you know a weasel when you work with one. This world has more weasels than leaders.

- Pilots who come to work to work, not to sleep on the job and let the F/O do the whole thing. Even though I liked doing the whole thing......

- Pilots who weren't patronizing. (read: pilots who recognised the obvious fact that I was better than them... :D)

- Pilots who could laugh for four solid days.

The best Captain I've ever flown with, or will fly with are the ones that retire at 60!!!!

Amen brother!

EAB,
That's funny! Bustin on you 'cause we know what you mean, but for someone who doesn't like to emphasize oneself, you sure use it alot <BG>

Each of these posts epitomizes the professionalism and humanism that should dominate every workplace. Nice posts gentlemen....these are exactly the kinds of Captains I like to fly with and the kind of Captain I hope to be when I get to that point.

My favorite Captain rode to work on a Harley, was loved by all the crews, and gave me one piece of very useful advice:

"If this airplane starts talking to you, you dang well better listen."

(think: TCAS, windshear, stall, etc.)

The best CA's are the ones that still remember a time when they were FO's.

You want to see how a captain should and shouldn't be and the roles between cptains and fo's (executive officers), check out the movie "Crimsom Tide." It's a great movie.

...
 

"Capt. Happy", M.J., he made all the trips I flew with him a blast, always wore a smile. GAR, he was a former Vietnam POW, and to me a hero, and I often told him so. Gavin, and most of my former Wings West buddies, and some others that I might have forgotten on my way north of 10,000 accident, incident, and violation free hours.

Thanks for all your knowledge and wisdom guys, thanks for your humor and understanding, for your patience. I wont ever for get ya'll and I tried to pass that on to my first officers while I was in the left seat.

Damn right! In FO/XO should never freakin talk back like he did in that movie! (Just kidding!)

(But seriously, don't you know that everything in the cockpit is mine... I just let you borrow stuff from time to time...)

:D

"We are to take the beam out of our own eye before we take the splinter out of someone else's." Matthew 7:3

Tom

No hatred in my heart for PHL. BOS, JFK, LGA, ORD, EWR now THOSE are some places to hate.
Just kidding. There is a reason to 'hate' or love anyplace. It's what you make of it.

Tom

I agree completely. I don't understand the Matthew reference.

Three more sayings I'll never forget from awesome captains:

"This ain't no moon shot",
"You can make this job as hard or as easy as you want to" and
"Your leg, so your decisions on deviating, climbing to higher altitudes, etc"

And if youre going to screw it up, I'll let you know.:D

One of my favorite briefings included:

"If it comes time to make a decision, both of us will be involved. If we disagree, we'll go with the more conservative option. If it's not clear which is more conservative/safe, then we go with my idea."

I just like how it set the tone for a crew environment, but laid out the rules in the event of a disagreement at the same time, and not in a "it's my ship" kind of tone.

That same captain involved me in nearly everything, I did the "welcome aboard" PAs on my legs, etc. It was a very positive, enjoyable environment.