Huck is right about a few things. I wrote a lengthy analysis of this CVR transcript and its meanings ...way beyond the sterile cockpit stuff.
And HUCK is quite right, a bit of small talk is vital to "team building" in the cockpit.
I won't publish my analysis here, yet. I will attempt to have it published where it will do more good, somehow the public must understand what airline flying in the USA is becoming.
When it is published elsewhere, I may reprint it here.
And guys, there is so much more in the transcript than what you have already mentioned...read it like your life depends on it...every word...don't skip anything.
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the following is to be taken with a grain of salt and not reflect the tragedy of the Lexington accident...if you think you will read it the wrong way, don't read it at all.
Huck is right too about managing a subway restaurant/sandwich shop.
The question to modern pilots is this: is it easier to hit on a babe with the line: I fly for comair and make crappy $, or I manage a subway and make crappy sandwiches but twice as much money as that comair guy?