Those damned pedantic idiot captains
They are in every airline I know but they give me the screaming heebeejeebees\ when I hear the same old stories.
Example: First officer correctly decides to use speed brake during a 737 descent. Keeps hand on the speed brake lever in accordance with company SOP even though it means stretching across throttles and in any case it's uncomfortable. Autopilot is engaged as per SOP. PF operates autopilot as per SOP. ATC give a heading change, so F/O momentarily relinquishes his left hand from the speed brake lever in order to select new heading on MCP hdg selector knob.
Pedantic idiot in LH seat immediately reprimands F/O for breaking company SOP because the poor bastard took his hand off the S/B lever for 3-5 seconds at the most. Pedantic LH seat idiot says F/O should have kept his left hand on S/B lever and adjusted hdg selector with right hand. What utter unadulterated tosh!
Reminded me of when I first got in a 737 simulator in another lifetime and thought Man - this is for real. What a lucky chap I am for soon flying a 737. It was an old -200 with old instruments.
I adjusted my seat and leaned over to move the HSI course knob situated (I think) on left bottom corner of the instrument. A blast of hot air hit the back of my neck from the old pedantic check pilot crouched menacingly in the jump seat as he yelled in purple faced anger: "You use your left hand for the course knob and the right hand for the heading knob." I thought to myself "Do I really want to be an airline pilot if I have to put up with these old fools?" Yet thousands of F/O's get this treatment every day somewhere in the world.
Or yet another occasion when the rate of climb was phenomenal and I called out "Approaching 1000 to go". The LH seat pedantic calmly corrected me in a gentle sarcastic tone saying "the call is 1000 to go, NOT approaching 1000 to go." He completely missed the point that such was the rate of climb at the time, that the chimes would have sounded before I could have completed the support call - the chimes being the back-up to the support call - not the initiator.
I have nothing but the greatest sympathy for First Officers forced to button their lips and accept this crap from idiots in the LH seat.