CFI Guy

I'm relatively new to the 135 charter world. I started working for a charter company last year flying right seat in a light jet. I'm not sure if I handled this properly so I'll chalk this up as a learning experience. I'd appreciate any constructive input.

We flew two PAX today who have flown with us on more than one occasion. Both individuals are highly educated professionals with completely different personalities. I'll call one Mr. Happy and the other Mr. Stern.

We had a couple bumps today due to weather and the captain commented Mr. Stern does not like turbulence. Apparently he had a turbulent flight not too long ago and he wasn't happy. He comes off like he's angry but I think he's just scared of flying.

The first leg of the flight went well and waited all day for them to return. They gave us very short notice before they arrived but everything was good to go. Upon boarding Mr. Stern asked if the plane was ok and if we checked everything. Mr. Happy made a lighthearted comment so I joked back saying something like we have wings and an engine I think we are ok.

Soon after departing we had an issue with the pressurization and the cabin was increasing too rapidly putting pressure on our ears. We finally got it resolved but the captain turned a couple times to the pax in the rear and asked if they were ok and pointed to his ears. He mentioned they are probably going to be upset so we should apologize after we land.

During approach the captain went a little too fast on initial descent so the over speed warning went off a couple times. There was some weather and we came in on the ILS. On short final with visual on the runway the "glide slope" warning kept blaring as the captain went low. I eventually silenced it but not until it went off a few times.

After landing I went back to open the cabin door and Mr. Stern gave me the stink eye and asked "what was going on up there"? I thought he was referring to the pressurization ordeal and I just made a comment and muttered something to the extent of the pressurization had a kink and sorry if you felt some pressure on your ears. He then said "No, what was going on during landing. All those sounds were very alarming". I kind of froze for a second trying to formulate a thought in my head. I thought for a second maybe this guy knows about planes and if I BS him I'll seem even less credible and really make him start asking questions. Mr. Happy then starts joking around and says "It's probably telling you so slow down. You are going too fast! Hahaha" so I just smiled. I said "yeah that thing just likes to beep for anything". Mr. Stern again said "no, it was very alarming" and just sat there while I tried to think of a logical response.

I froze for a second and with him staring at me not looking to happy I tried to formulate a plausible answer without arousing suspicion. I wanted to be vague but not too vague. I finally muttered "oh that thing is really sensitive. If you are a foot too low or high on the glide slope it beeps at you. Nothing to worry about". He then exited the plane and didn't seem to happy.

After the PAX left the captain politely chastised me about I shouldn't say anything to them. Only the captain is supposed to talk to the PAX because some co pilots have said dumb things in the past and he got in trouble from the boss. I asked him what I should say in such a situation if the passenger asks me a direct question. His response was I should just "talk around it" and they don't need to know anything about the plane or what happened otherwise they'll complain.

How could I have handled the situation better? It's one thing if you are in a closed cockpit but totally different when there is no door blocking their view. They are far back enough not to overhear us talking but the audible alarms are rather loud. Today was something very minor but now I'm worried if something more "exciting" happens in the future. Sounds like a TMAAT interview question.

Yoda2

You could try slipping some Valium into Mr. Sterns drink or you could tell him your company doesn't believe much in simulators and prefers to conduct training during revenue flights, with some of that savings passed on to you the customer. We believe hearing a few bells and whistles is a small price to pay for that benefit. Or you could just ask your Captain to please get their _ _ _ _ together...

flylikesly

CFI Guy you must be so much fun to fly with... Just relax. I can understand why your captain doesn't want you talking to the pax. Things happen all the time, I take it your are just starting out in this industry... You will learn.

Yeffro

Ha!

Like you said CFI Guy, a learning learning experience. I would have been out of the seat, moving deliberately (snap, snap, after all...) and opening the door before the guy has time to ask me anything; "looking for chocks", and having no shame in leaving the captain to deal with the fallout of that mess. It's not a good situation for you to be in with regards what you're going to say.

wmuflyboy

You should have gave a heads up to your Captain that he was approaching the overspeed. That would have saved some of the audible warning from going off. The Captain doesnt sound like he pays much attention.

cencal83406

Glide slope warnings happen all the time huh?

Good to know...

flylikesly

You must be one of those guys who flys the ILS when it's clear and a million out following the glide slope chewing up 2000 feet of your available landing distance on a 5000 foot runway... I love flying with newbies, they have no real world application. Welcome newbie!

maddogmax

So you duck under the GS on a clear day? Ask the Asiana crew how that worked for them.

cencal83406

We have FOQA. If I were to duck the glide slope I would probably be paying a visit to HQ for retraining.

Newbie thank you

Landing distance factors in landing on the 1000 ft marker. Our landing standard is 1000-1500 feet from threshold or go around.

Fly Boy Knight

I believe this is why he is asking his question and I also believe that someone with 10,000 hours can still be "new" to a particular part of the industry. Talking down to someone does not make the learning process go any faster.

Lol sadly this advice is probably the best. It's annoying that you need to go do superfluous stuff just to buy enough time for the captain to answer Mr. Stern's questions but if that's the company's approach, oh well. I would probably talk around it and then say, "The captain will be right out but I''m gonna go find chocks and get the rampers started on fueling because they notoriously take forever to get us fuel here." or something.

While I am not in the corporate industry, when I answer questions for laypeople, I usually don't try to sugar coat it too much. If they ask a technical/procedural question, I usually tell them straight up what it was and what caused it and usually, I'll also give an example of how a warning like that can be misleading/a nuisance (gusty winds result in being low on the GS but you were already in the roundout and obviously weren't going to correct before landing). Everyone's approach to answer these kind of questions is different but IMO, a little bit of technical stuff coupled with honesty usually works best but again, I fly the general public around, not corporate people whose complaints may actually be addressed by your employer/company. Probably best to just avoid the situation to begin with if you can.