CP at my airline has created a form that has to be filled out by a captain at the end of every pairing which has several criteria to evaluate the first officer.
The criteria include appearance, pre/post flight duties, attitude/CRM, flying skills/airmanship etc.
My airline generally has 200 hr wonders sitting with predominantly ex airforce captains in addition to a sizeable expat population as well.
What do you think are the implications good and bad of such a policy. One of the biggest issues affecting our company's flight safety department is the asymmetric authority in the F/D due to the huge disparity in experience and even training backgrounds. A lot of F/Os feel that this will further widen the gap. Being an F/O I concur with this sentiment as any opinion from the F/O is not necessarily dismissed but just added to the footnotes of the decision making process.
Personally, I think it sounds like a poor idea to have it as a Captain only perspective. If your outfit has a large authority gradient, I’d have thought a view from each side would be far more productive.
Have the company said what they aim to achieve from this?
As an F/O myself, I agree with you – the gap will widen as you will always feel on edge and not be yourself….
Basically, a little childish game, if forms required to be used for each captain you fly with. I would maybe only see the use of evaluation form for the F/Os who are on or about to start their training for upgrade... say 3 captains to evaluate the F/O before admitting him/her to upgrade training. xxx If your airline starts the game of evaluation nazism, suggest F/Os (among theirselves) do equal evaluation of captains, with appropriate grading as idiots, snobs or morons with bad breath. xxx Happy contrails
These are concerns being raised (albeit mutedly) about this haphazard approach to evaluations. There is no recourse for the F/O to plead against a negative opinion. We have no access to the completed forms so we never know what improvements are needed.
What concerns me is the affect this will have on safety and overall CRM as the F/O will be more reluctant to speak up fearing reprisal through the forms. I have a feeling this will lead to a reporting culture where the crew members will perceive themselves as adversaries rather team members.
Also.... in the former jewel of the crown there is no such thing as redressal for unjust dismissal, access to personal data and employee rights as a whole.
A company I worked for would leave the envelope in one's mail box with a letter asking for a report, over the period of the duty, usually five days, on the FO. I would show the FO the form at first briefing, we would talk about it en route and then more or less fill it in together at the end of each sector, I felt that was the only way it could be of any use.
I saw a draft form to be used by F/Os to provide feedback to their Captains on some of the CRM / personality aspects of recent crewing, i.e. the Captain's performance. The feedback appears to be in lieu of debriefing if rushed, or where the comments are judged to be suited to a confidential report. The subjects range: friendliness, self confidence, communications, listening, assertiveness, distractions, reactions, and SOP adherence. The ratings would be made on a simple scale, 1 to 5, low to high.
These are concerns being raised (albeit mutedly) about this haphazard approach to evaluations. There is no recourse for the F/O to plead against a negative opinion. We have no access to the completed forms so we never know what improvements are needed.
When I posted, I thought FO's were allowed to see the report after.
I agree with you then.. it surely is quite a bad idea.
One airline where I worked had these forms for awhile. Filled out at the end of each month. The First Officer concerned was always given a copy, and signed for same.
I nearly always put....'all functions carried out to a good standard.'
The long since defunct Ansett Airlines of Australia had a policy where first officers could elect not to fly with any particular captain. The F/O would merely phone in when he saw the roster and say count me out with this bastard (well, words to that effect)
There were no questions asked because it didn't happen that often. However the event would always reach the desk of management. If the same captain was the subject of more than (say) five no-fly requests by various other first officers, management twigged there must surely be a problem with this specific captain. He would be hauled in and grilled as to why F/O's were avoiding flying with him. Invariably he would have a miraculous change of attitude after that. It was a very wise policy and defused potentially serious flight deck confrontation.
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