Why is asking again so difficult for some?
Hi all.
Flew recently with a senior captain with many years in the cockpit. A very friendly bloke with generally very good CRM and he keeps a relaxed environment.
But yesterday we were flying into a large international airport and we were given a clearance to follow a STAR with a shortcut instruction, something like this: Follow XXXXX 1 B arrival, WWWWW direct. The WWWWW was the last point of the STAR and the centrefix for the ILS. I set this up in the FMS and inserted the Direct. We were pretty close to the arrival so I wanted to set things up for us and have it over and done with to reduce the workload and to buy more time for briefings and checklists etc.
The captain didn't hear the Direct instruction and was very sceptical to my actions and I tried my best to explain the clearance. I even had it written down. But he just didn't believe me. In that case the best thing from my viewpoint would have been to ask the controller again and confirm the clearance. But instead he did what he thought he heard and took control of the plane (I was PF). He inserted the first point of the STAR and we made a 90 degree turn which in turn promted a call from the controller asking us what we were doing.
Now to my point. Why is it so hard for some to ask the controller again if we missed the clearance in the first place? Why guess? What are they worried about? If it is prestige, isn't it more embarrasing doing the wrong thing and being told off by ATC, than asking about the clearance?
Perhaps I was wrong in inserting the clearance so early without having him properly in the loop. After everything was sorted out, he admitted to being wrong and everything was fine, but I'm just curious, what is it that makes it so difficult to ask in the first place? I find it's a more common occurance with more senior colleagues than younger ones, does it come with age? Or is it culture?
Thanks/ LnS