Managing fast Captain upgrades...

jonvcaples said:
Another of their tricks was to have the Chief Pilot call you on a day off and start ripping into you. He would have you on speaker phone with HR present (but not telling you about this) and, if you lost your composure, used disrespectful or profane language you were fired for being insubordinate.
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I don’t know any airline pilots senior enough to be past indoc that will answer their phone on a day off.
 
jonvcaples said:
As a Captain, a big part of your job is training your FOs! This may involve some occasional feedback/advice on basic stick and rudder stuff. But the majority of it is helping your FOs understand the system and how to operate with safety and efficiency.

Somebody posted a comment about how when it is time to go you go unless you are waiting for your clearance. What made you believe this? There are tons of things to consider and ensure are 100% correct before you ever think about heading out to the airplane. Have you ever noticed flight attendants telling people to sit down and ask you to pay attention to their pre takeoff safety briefing and insist you remain seated? The crew cannot push if passengers are out of their seats.

Do you have the right number of people on board? Do you have accurate weather? If not you have to get it. Do you have enough fuel? Are you going to have to leave bags, cargo, or people if you are overweight? Dispatch does a lot of this BUT they did so well before your flight. Weather may have changed, an earlier flight may have cancelled, thousands of things can and do happen every flight. And it is all on you to make sure everything is legal and safe. Remember, you can delegate performance but you as captain are always accountable. Remember, even commuters operate under 121. Under 121 many of the rules start out with wording along the lines that no carrier will assign AND no pilot will accept. Your employer can self disclose which means if they screw up (bad maintenance, not airworthy aircraft, dispatch negligence, etc.) they can self disclose to the FAA apologize and get off with no penalty while you wind up with a violation and possible loss of your license.

Hope this helps you understand more of what sitting in the left seat involves.

Jon
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Jon,

Other than being a systems ground instructor at an airline (no line experience) and you have a type on a Beech 1900, did you actually ever fly as a pilot in a 121 operation? I have to ask this because so much of your information is either flawed or severely outdated.

Company self disclosure comes via the VDRP process. However most 121's don't use VDRP any longer and now use ASAP.

Your employer can self disclose which means if they screw up (bad maintenance, not airworthy aircraft, dispatch negligence, etc.) they can self disclose to the FAA apologize and get off with no penalty while you wind up with a violation and possible loss of your license.
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That's completely wrong under ASAP as well as the FAA's compliance philosophy that has been in place for quite a while now.
 
jonvcaples said:
Another of their tricks was to have the Chief Pilot call you on a day off and start ripping into you. He would have you on speaker phone with HR present (but not telling you about this) and, if you lost your composure, used disrespectful or profane language you were fired for being insubordinate.
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Have HR on the speaker phone and not inform the individual on the other end of the line. Seriously?

Jon, I can't even begin to explain to you how BS that statement is.
 
jonvcaples said:
Kritchlow, true but if the company does it first then you are hosed. A former dispatcher told me they saw this happen several times. Apparently management used this to get rid of pilots, especially Captains, who were causing problems such as writing up discrepancies at non-maintenance airports resulting in the plane being grounded.
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Kritchlow was referring to an ASAP report, which evidently you have no concept of how that works.

A company can't use ASAP to get rid of people.
 
You're right, I've never heard of ASAP. Kindly teach on! Please be sure to discuss when this started and what it covered. Thanks!!

I've filed a ton of NASA ASRS reports over the years both while flying the line and as a GA pilot.
 
jonvcaples said:
You're right, I've never heard of ASAP. Kindly teach on! Please be sure to discuss when this started and what it covered. Thanks!!

I've filed a ton of NASA ASRS reports over the years both while flying the line and as a GA pilot.
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I'm not here to "teach you". Try google, there is a ton of information on the subject and it's all in the public domain.

So where did you "fly the line" at?
 
Doc, the phone call thing happened to me. I had a medical issue and grounded myself until it was cleared. The CP called me and started ripping into me using very foul and unprofessional language. After a long string of abusive comments he stopped and was quiet then asked me what did I have to say for myself. I asked him what was the first sentence in the company flight manual...which read something like all company employees are expected to take the safest course of action. Then I said let's not rely on memory, so I pulled my copy out and read it. Then I asked, tell me what could be safer than doing what I did? As soon as I stopped speaking I heard a bunch of people laughing (his phone was obviously in speaker mode, , someone say, "he got you there Hank", and his phone was taken out of speaker phone mode.

His parting comment was along the line of get your sorry ass back to work as soon as you can followed by a forceful hangup. This was routine behavior at this small 121 carrier.

While I am venting let's talk about another apparently routine occurrence at this outfit. Post maintenance check flights were assigned to line crews who had no special training or qualifications. I flew several as an FO where maintenance control literally handed us the log book had the airplane filled with fuel and told us to just go fly around. Fortunately, I insisted they give us a copy of the maintenance manual section listing what actions needed to be verified and under what conditions. One particular incident stands out in my memory is a check on an airplane that had repairs done to its stability augmentation system.

I asked to see what we were supposed to do and the maintenance guy told me to go to hell. The Captain then said we were not going to do the check until we got a copy of appropriate section of the maintenance manual. Lo and behold there was a detailed 2 page procedure we had to perform including flight maneuvers we were never trained on involving stalling the aircraft. There was a half page specification of how the airplane had to be loaded with very precise weight and cg requirements. It took us almost an hour to work out the cg limits because the manual procedure expressed the limits in an engineering format none of us, including the maintenance department, had ever seen. I think we finally had to call Beech to have them figure out the right combination of fuel and ballast to meet the spec.

As a Captain I had my windshield crack and spiderweb climbing through FL250 enroute to DFW. The FO was flying and did a great job! After declaring an emergency and returning to KROW I called maintenance. These bozos insisted that we ferry the airplane to KFMN for repair. I declined and was verbally abused and ordered to bring the airplane to KFMN. Finally, after realizing things were not going to move off dead center and growing tired of being harassed I asked for a copy of the pertinent MEL which said the airplane could be ferried IF visibility was acceptable to the crew. So I said visibility was not acceptable to this crew!

At a decent company these kind of things should never happen. Unfortunately, at that company these incidents were common. Ok off the soapbox now. Thank you for letting me vent.
 
Mesa Air Group (where the above happened) and Air Wisconsin. Air Wis was a good company and treated me very well. I can't say enough good things about how they handled people and me in particular.
 
Doc, thanks for the info about ASAP unfortunately it didn't exist during most of my 121 aircrew days...too bad it could have very helpful!
 
Busflyer, we used to say the company motto was we're not happy until you're not happy. There were a lot of wonderful, caring folks in the customer facing positions with management who couldn't pour rainwater out of a boot with directions written on the bottom of the sole.
 
jonvcaples said:
Mesa Air Group (where the above happened) and Air Wisconsin. Air Wis was a good company and treated me very well. I can't say enough good things about how they handled people and me in particular.
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So what equipment did you fly?
 
Beech 1900D a great machine...almost overpowered which I define that to mean id you push the PCLs to reach a redline you would rip the wings off. What a pocket rocket, especially when light.

Flew, and taught ground school for, D328 turboprop at Air Wis another great airplane. Incredible systems, autopilot, blueroom, AND a flight attendant!

Lots of sim time and was a systems instructor for B757/767 at United Air Lines. Actually completed training for type rating but was not allowed to take checkride because of company policy.

Do you have 121 experience, if so what equipment?
 
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