PinnacleFO

I just wanted to see what everyone thinks about this. Its happened to all of us, you have a 4 day trip with a captain (or fo i guess but they really cant control much) who does everything at the pace of a turtle "in the name of safety". I mean it gets bad, taxiing so slow that you think the brakes are going to overheat, pulling in the pad to wait for takeoff numbers even though you already have them, pulling back the speed all the way to LRC and not accepting any short cuts the whole way. It gets you so frustrated. Then on the last leg of the day, when this person has to get home to his or her commuting flight, everything suddenly switches, rushing through everything and sometimes forgeting stuff, flying at the red line even if its bumpy, getting stressed out about waiting in a takeoff line, making the fo ask for rediculous short cuts when you know ATC is not going to give them. Ive even had a captian that wanted to just fly right through a buildup that would have been so easy to go around, and it took all the pleading in the world to get him to ask for the 10 degrees right which took us one minute longer.
I have always thought that you can hardly make up time in the air, it all happens on the ground. I know that everyone is trying to make their flights home and sometimes its the only flight home, but I believe that if you work as a team, you can get a quick turn done on the last leg, fly the plane normally, and when you get on the ground, if one person has to leave right away, let the other person take care of everything on the way out. I worry sometimes about people just rushing too much and that can lead to bad things

Diver Driver

I agree, if you fly through a storm and never get to your destination... what's the point?! Make up the time on the ground.

BoilerUP

I hope you're only using the most extreme of examples...

JoeyMeatballs

Yeah if not, that CA is a douche............and you shouldn't have to "plead" with the bastard to go around a thunderstorm, the tails on most RJ's aren't the strongest

Airsupport

my old instructor told me.

if you die in a plane crash on a day with low overcast, low vis, with thunderstorms all around knowing you shouldn't have gone,, the day they bury you will be clear and a million with lots of sunshine.

we had this same scenario happen to us just yesturday. it was our last leg home. we sat in dsm for 2 1/2 hours waiting for storms to get out of mem. they told us we could launch but everyone was holding. my captain was smart enough to say we will wait it out and sure enough after about 30 min on the ground dsm tower told us that they were putting a stop on all flights into mem and that everyone that was holding had to divert. is diverting a big deal? no, had to do it several times. but taking the risk of launching a plane when you know everyone is holding to try and get in wouldn't have been smart. we just waited it all out, took off and had a smooth non eventful flight into mem.

fosters

I've gotta say, I've been flying 121 for two years and not once has anything that you described happened to me. I guess that's what you get when you hire minimally experienced FO's and they upgrade to CA .

Everyone flies fast on the last leg, but I've never had it as bad as you describe. Depending on the buildup and what it's painting in the 20,000 ft level I would've let the dumbass go thru if he/she insisted...just be sure to warn the FA and peeps!

PinnacleFO

Yes, these are extreme examples, they are all from the same guy too. FOr the most part at pinnacle, we have very good captains, but we also have a couple people that belong nowhere near the left seat and all the bad ones i have flown with have been senior captains ironically.

JoeyMeatballs

Or maybe they are senior, because nobody else wants to hire em

Short Bus Drive

Have you asked this Captain why he does this? Have you expressed concern for the safety of the flight? If so, and he ignores you, two words:
Professional Standards!

Inbluskyz

The inconsistencies are frusrating, I know. It seems like the captain, by taxiing slow and using LRC, is trying to over block for the trip. Even small increments of over block will pay off the long run. Let's say the captain makes $65 per hour and he overblocks an average of 45 minutes per trip throughout the course of a year, that equates to an extra $2,340 per year. Does the captain delay setting the parking break after stopping at the gate? That may explain a lot for the slow taxi and LRC. The captain may also be using LRC to save the company money on fuel expenses. As far as the last leg is concerned, communicate your concerns and present a plan that both will agree upon. If you want to slow things down on the last leg, do everything by the book but at a slower pace than usual. Don't let him rush you. At least the next time you fly with this guy, you will know what to expect.