Balence:
I'm not surprised at the FO's reaction. If I were the FO I'd likely politely tell you where you could gracefully bend over and place the books! Are you a training Captain? Do you have the right to make a judgement? Did you politely discuss the issues first? Did you get out the books ytourself and show him or her with a degree of respect?
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Yes I did. Firstly in the air prior to TOPD and then also after shut-down. FO still refused to even consider what was printed in the manual. Case was refered to CP who agreed with my position.
I dont care how politely you were in telling me where to "place the books", Such a response would certainly get you Tea And Bikkies with the boss at any airline.
[quote]
FO's MUST make decisions for themselves, and if they don't then they have no right to be sitting in a cockpit. They must be encouraged, guided, trusted, mentored and respected. One day, a FO will likely pull me out of the sh1t, and I will owe him or her big time.
I agree with you. However, this does not in any way discount the issue of the burden of command. The FO has a worthy role in using innovation, intellect, experience and tact in supporting the Captain of making sound decisions.
If you as a Captain state that an FO can only make the decisions that you allow him too, then you are no better than the Captain who had the Axe held to him, and you have completely missed the point of good CRM.
I'll throw this back at you: Do
you, as a Captain, allow your FOs to make operational decisions that you don't agree with? If so, you have a reversal of the Gradient of Command and
this is a demonstrated safety threat.
You can hold any suspicion of
overtones in your post of superiority mixed with inexperience
However, they are not the foundation of sound arguement, have no rational or intellectual validity and add nothing to the debate.
BSD
I see you interpret "final" as "every
Oh? I didn't know that there was another way to interpret this. Does not the Captain have the final authortity on
every aspect of the flight? Are there instances where the FO has 'final authority' on a flight that is being conducted in a lawful manner?