Bloggsie I thought it was "I am the captain, you're the resource, prepare to be managed"
haughty in a previous life where we actually had old style captains who would occassionally suggest the most bizarre departures from basic airmanship, let alone SOP, my response was usually "You wanna do what?" followed by "And just what the !!!! do you think I will doing while you try that?"
The classic example was a captain who decided that the next sector, nominally my sector, was his because he "may have to bust the minima to get in"...this was in an RPT jet. The conversation went like this;
"Yeah?"
"Yes...to get the job done"
"Well I'll just pop into ops and get them to send out a dumber/braver FO then"
"You wouldn't do that...would you?"
"In a fecking heart beat!!!" (my
exact words)
"But we have to keep the show on the road"
"XYZ I will call minima and if you're not visual you will go around...if you do not the
very next words you will hear
will be "I have control"...am I being fairly clear?"
"Umm...ok your sector"
There wasn't a cloud in the sky at the destination.
A couple of years later that individual was going to be demoted but 'retired' instead...last I heard he is drinking himself to death (literally)...even in those days he was an advanced alcoholic. It is important to note that I didn't get hysterical or raise my voice...I just made, and maintained, eye contact and calmly told him what I would do. We even remained 'friends' afterwards...or more accurately socially civil....certainly I had earned his respect...that doesn't mean he was just testing me, he really would have done it with a less assertive FO....he had tried the exact same thing with a previous FO who had subsequently become a captain. There were good reasons for his subsequent demotion...a LONG list of similarly stupid actions and threatened behaviour that eventually led me and others to go into print on the guy...and thankfully management listened.
The above is an extreme example of a bad captain...I doubt you'd ever see it's like in this day and age but it is possible in some third world airlines (which this one was). The reason I had the respect of the captains I flew with was because I didn't sweat the little things...but there was a point I would not pass.
All airlines are 'captain's airlines'...that means you will virtually never win over a captain even if he is wrong...live with it, or leave.
After I had written my report years later after an even more bizarre departure from SOPs airborne, again totally unemotionally, I bumped into the Fleet manager (a good guy) and said "Oh I have that report, you want it now?"
"No" and a pained look.
"No problems if you want I will destroy it"
"Yeah?"
"Yup, easy....it's completely up to you...do nothing if you like....but one day you'll get a phone call from me at some far flung outport asking to be replaced...and I will absolutely not be talked into 'just bringing the aircraft home'...the jet will stay parked until you send another pilot."
He took the report and took action...I subsequently learned that a handfull of other FOs went into print when they heard I had...and I also subsequenty learned from within the C&Ting establishment that I had earned great respect from the Fleet manager.