I don't think masks should be optional on the line, frankly, but it is what it is. You've got 3 people in the sim and way less airflow than in the plane with 2 people and your own private pack exchanging air a lot faster than what's realistically going on inside of the sim.

FAA waiver right now.

No O2 mask training, you're just going to have to remember how to use it.

As for the tk mask rule, it's a paper mask (free at the front door, or your own), it's not hard to keep on. Put it on before you leave your room and take it off when you get home. Chicago, Newark, Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Cleveland, San Fran, DC. All domiciles, all COVID hotspots. We have people flying in and then sitting in tiny rooms talking at each other for hours at a time, a little prevention doesn't hurt.

The truth is the sim was never meant to replicate the line and can’t. The sim is to reinforce and repeat skills needed when a real emergency happens in a real airplane. And yes not donning the O2 mask in simulation may cause an issue in real life.

But this really isn’t about proper training right now at all. It’s about surviving this insane COVID crisis, where a recent poster stated they thought masks should be mandatory in the cockpit. Personally I think he or she should stay home and not fly if they are that worried about contracting or spreading the virus.

Please us some common sense.

Certainly if a surgeon can wear a mask during my 5 hr reduction surgery, one can wear it in the cockpit no? It just ain’t that hard. Well, masks in the cockpit and sim that is.

I’ll write it again, if you are that concerned about COVID in the cockpit in actual operations, stay home.

Far easier solution for the rest of us.

Or, you can stay home, since you think that diminishing legitimate concerns about a serious virus is ok. That's far easier for the rest of us.

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Hear hear. Like asking somebody to wear a little surgical mask is such a gigantic deal. Unlike a virus that could cost you your career or life.

Well said.

I can’t imagine not being polite if the other pilot prefers to wear a mask, but according to the latest union email, not even the captain can mandate a mask when the door is closed. If there is a problem, the person insisting on the mask is pulled from the trip. The mask drives me nuts and steam up my glasses enough to be distracting. It’s not a safety issue in a simulator, but it is in the plane. If someone were to ask that I wear one with the door closed I’d comply providing that they fly every leg. I don’t really know that any of this is an issue on the line though. I haven’t been to work in a while, but from what I understand, everyone takes them off as soon as the door closes. It’s almost like the race to get the shoulder straps off when the gear comes up.

For you pro mask Captains:

If the FO said he would wear a mask but requested use of intercom instead of cross cockpit would you grant it? Garbled comms with the mask seems like the biggest limiting factor to me, just curious.