I fly an Otter multi-crew. All be it mostly VFR , we are still flying around paying Vacationers from the States.
Its my first Multi-Crew Job , and my first as a Captain. I dont have any Co-pilot time. So initailly during my training to line where I am I did alot of no-nos. I have nearly 4000HRS Single Pilot IFR Turbo prop and recip experience. So the transition was hard. There seems to be no real good books on the topic Ive found either.YOU HAVE TO THINK ALOUD.
Anyway I have made some decisions initailly that , I believe were ok, but I could have attacked differently.
One day we were approaching our base Airport in marginal weather. We were to do a Left hand pattern to land. I was visual with the runway on myside on downwind. I wasnt sure if my F/O was, I asked are you visual, he replied no, So I took control using standard phraseology " I have control" he replied "you have control". I turned the aircraft onto final, then handed over again. So the F/O could continue. Is this the correct way to do things?
In this multi crew environ obviously safety is vital No.1 issue. In achieving this crews need to bo coesive and have single contentment that either one of the crew knows what he or she are doing and where we are heading with this hunk of metal.
Information loop is vital. When Im on approach and I am flying and Im out of tolerance or even in tolerance and slightly off Ill tell the F/O strarght away "Right of Centre line correcting" ,"Ref
+ 15 correcting or decent rate checked" I beleive this is important. I f you have the slightest unease let it be voiced, dont bottle up your wait until its out of tol to talk. I let all the F/Os I fly with, be aware of this. We all need to be happy with whats happeneing.
Am I still green and over sensitive to flying with someone else?Probably so. Im still learning this Multi Crew stuff and I believe its somethings thats not a complete science and is allways evolving especially with the Technology advancements in our sector.
Regards
Sheep