Originally Posted by
Speed_Trim_Fail
4 years in company. That’s it. Plenty of 2 stripers walking around at the moment with thousands of jet hours and an ATPL, as well as command experience. It’s a bit much IMHO (particularly as the cadet second officers wear two stripes too), and it means that during the pre briefing coffee the “where were you before?” is quite a loaded question.
Loaded in what sense? I am interested
I get asked by the genuinely curious with whom it's all a pleasure to discuss and culminates in a sincere "great to have you here" atmosphere. A lot are also curious how my previous operator did certain things and we'd have some great conversations. An insignificant minority are made nervous by the 2 stripes however and interact with me notably different. This becomes more obvious on 3 crew trips where the other FO has 3 stripes. Arguably the "best" captain I have flown with so far didn't ask at all. It may or may not be a coincidence that he was a seriously competent operator. The other end of the spectrum are the ones who see 2 stripes and take from it that it is their duty to redo your line training. Of the 3 experiences of this nature, 2 admitted to having failed trainer bids .. can't think why.
For what it's worth to those looking to join and total clarity, the CRM is to an exceptional standard and any bad experiences are the outliers. It is simply an incomparable environment to my previous loco where every 3rd day you'd be wondering how the other person wasn't in a straight jacket.