Originally Posted by
Radgirl
It looks very unprofessional for a pilot to be chatting to CC or drinking or eating in flight. If you care what your customer thinks you wouldnt do it
If you want to socialise why not open the FD door and stand by the exit to speak to disembarking passengers. Might improve image and get happy punters
The need to exercise is a red herring. Pilots do not not seem to have a raised thromboembolic risk - reason unclear.
There is nothing unprofessional about drinking a coffee in the galley. In any cooperation, face to face social interactions are the valuable time to have people aside in an more informal way, create interactions, who knows, even "dislodge" certain things that might have been created before due to "formal" interactions. It is a social requirement to create trust. Sometimes the "leader" needs to leave his office and step into the "zone" of others. "My door is open" phrases don't work for many people if there are problems, because they will stay in their "zone". Which is the exact reason why I distrust any person who prefers to stay up front, door closed, and calls it "professional". A first officer is "second-in-command". He has to be allowed to go out there and interact. It's eyes and ears of what might possibly "stir" in the back. If there is nothing, fine. If there is something, you are proactive.
No you don't need excercise, you need to get up and interact with people, the act is fysically AND mentally healthy. It still surprises me to see how the world of aviation still thinks they are a world on their own from a human perspective. For years aviation was "founded" on a military background where people should follow strict hierarchic procedures. The Asians still like it, we complain so much about it, yet we defend it in our little world ourselves? Not on my aircraft. I've only got one message: you ain't fighting a war on the flightdeck, we're not part of an army. That's not the reason why the concept of CRM was created.