Over the years I witnessed takeoff briefings getting longer and longer and more blah blah;
While not specific to a take off briefing the following article in
www.skybrary.aero concerned a Boeing 737 in fog flying an ILS to Cat 1 DH where, among other SOP calls, the automated call-out of "1000 feet" was supposed to be acknowledged by the PF as "stable" or "Not stable - going around." Another automated call-out of "Minimums" occurred at DH where the PF was supposed to say "Continuing" if visual at that point or "going around" if not visual.
In the event, the PF descended to 100 ft above the runway where he became visual and disconnected the autopilot before landing.
The investigation not only criticised the PF (a 23,000 hour captain) for failure to make the required company call-out procedures during the ILS but also criticised the co-pilot for not taking action when the captain omitted to make the company SOP calls. The aircraft was stable on the approach. It did not state specifically what physical action the co-pilot was supposed to take.
The investigation heard the captain was known for his silent cockpit attitude and replying by grunts instead of articulating SOP call-outs.
The company was criticised for not taking preventive measures to call in the captain on numerous previous occasions when his failure to stick to SOP call-outs was well known among fellow pilots.
How things have changed over the years where once a silent cockpit was considered not only safe but desirable with the only call-outs being for an emergency. Monitoring took place but not necessarily articulated.
Perhaps because of a well founded fear of litigation, but disguised as essential flight safety measures (everything is recorded via the CVR), manufacturers and companies for years have steadily increased SOP call-outs to the degree where on an instrument approach and even visual approaches, it is common to have almost continuous verbalising of instrument and mode information from start of the approach to touch down.
If the tendency of some passengers to back seat driving is annoying to most car drivers, then the increasing plethora of crew SOP calls required by a company can be equally distracting to the pilot concentrating on flying; even if most of the time the automatics are engaged. Some pilots may welcome SOP calls coming thick and fast as it gives them a sense of comfort that all is well. But have we gone too far and are these calls becoming distracting and thus counter-productive?