Besides company manuals and official CAP documents etc does anyone have any other general / background reading recommendations in preparation for a command (or useful for the profession)?

Redefining Airmanship - Tony Kern
The Naked Pilot - David Beaty
Aircraft Command Techniques - Sal J Fellucco
Highest Duty - Chesley Sullenberger
Fate is the Hunter - Ernest K Gann
30 Seconds to Impact - Paul Burkill
Flight Discipline - Tony Kern
Human Factors For Pilot Performance - Trevor Thom

Drifter, you’ve got a great list started there, and I commend your interest in learning widely. I also disagree almost completely with 900er - those books are a great start and you learn command from the moment you take the right hand seat in a simulator or your first type.

I’ll add these recommendations:

Robert M Pirsig ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ for its insight into thinking and mechanical sympathy (a vital quality which few people now understand)
Sid Dekker ‘The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error’ - and in fact any and all of his excellent works for insight into human factors and frailty, and how ‘the system’ responds
PJ Swatton ‘Aircraft Performance Theory and Practice for Pilots’ for its clear explanations of the widely misunderstood world of Perf A
DP Davies ‘Handling the Big Jets’ for its insight into aircraft design and flying techniques, and the professional values which the author brings to his work - but remember that it was written a good while ago and modern aircraft often exhibit different characteristics.

+TSRA, that’s an excellent point. I recently read this definition, posted by Dr Umesh Prabhu in comments on an article about patient safety, “leadership is compassionate courage”. I think he’s united nail-head and hammer very neatly.

Thanks for the replies. Appreciated.

One of your most precious assets as a Captain is your mental capacity. Try to glean information about what capacity is and learn some methods to preserve or even increase it.

Here are some tips:

1. Don’t try to do everyone’s job. Delegate and trust people to do their jobs correctly. Support and verify as required. Having said that, it’s important for people to be sure about what it is you want them to do!
2. Learn to identify time-critical points in the pre-departure process and make an effort to respect them.
3. Inevitably, problems will arise which will require your input and decisions. Keep the rest of the show on the road by delegating “normal ops” to the F/O, Cabin Crew, Engineering, Dispatcher, etc. and then get stuck in to the problem.
4. One way to increase capacity is to be able to do most normal operations and SOPs without too much mental effort. The key to this is familiarity and confidence. Practise as much as you can, on the line and in the sim.
5. As others have said, be very familiar with the layout of the company manuals and know where to find stuff quickly. You will need a clear working knowledge of the Fuel Policy (planning and in-flight), the MEL/DDG, Low-Vis Ops, and the FTL scheme.

More generally:
6. Ask your skippers for permission to act as the PIC (as constrained by your manuals) and then ask for constructive feedback afterwards. Engage them in some “what if?” discussions as appropriate.
7. Ask cabin-crew, dispatchers and other co-pilots what they see as “good Captain’s behaviours” and try to emulate them.
8. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from any or all of your resources, in the pursuit of good CRM.
9. Make the best decisions you can with the information that you have at the time. Be prepared to change your decision if new information comes to light. Be aware that you may need to justify that decision later.
10. What is a “best decision”? That which optimises safety, compliance with regulations, and company commercial interests, IN THAT ORDER.
11. Try always to have a plan B and maybe even a plan C in your back pocket, particularly when planning an arrival into bad weather. Set time and/or fuel limits for making decisions regarding holding at destination, diversion, etc. Make sure your colleagues are part of this process.

Excellent advice Eckhard. Thanks.


Below is a summary from the introduction to the Command Prep document from the Royal Aeronautical Society:


Be considerate to all who you deal with in your daily operational life, like flight dispatchers, engineers, traffic officers and all the others who are involved with your departure.
Be particularly considerate towards your flight crew. This includes the cabin staff. Bring them all into your decision making process.


Do not let command go to your head. It takes a lot of people to get you into the air with a load of passengers or freight to deliver to your destination of the day. All must be treated as you would expect them to treat you.


If you have any doubts or misgivings, maybe even only feelings of discomfort about a situation or a technical condition, then you should always ask for clarification. A handy aphorism is ‘Pause for Thought' because the bottom line of your command is Safety. Insist that any given explanation is on 'your wavelength', not techno-babble and, where you are departing with 'deferred defects', that both pilots understand all the resulting ramifications and limitations.


Remember that the Minimum Equipment List (MEL) is, at best, a guidance document to be used in the decision making process. It is not to be taken as an excuse to keep going regardless of any misgivings, particularly when operating from the aircraft’s main operational and maintenance base from which aircraft should be dispatched with a clean technical log and no carried forward defects.


You may/will be dealing with enormous weights and trim dimensions and a competent grasp of the fundamentals is essential. So if your dispatch is complicated by icing conditions, late/missing baggage or cargo, catering or special passenger needs, there will be a compelling pressure from outside to get you away. However, for you the Commander, the over-arching 'safety first’ intent must prevail, to keep you where you are until you are satisfied it is safe to go.


You are but one, though very important cog in the operation of an aircraft, on whose shoulders rests the ultimate safety of the flight; so deal with people around you with the respect that their disciplines deserve but gently keep an eye open for potential errors. They are only human. This means that you must cross-check what is offered to you for signature, be it a technical log or the load sheet. Gross error checks must become part of your modus operandi as a fall back to ensure that errors will not kill you, so develop your skills in doing them.


Shy away from turning into a bully, especially if you move to training, instructing and examining.
Maintain a calm, balanced, constructive approach and do the job with neither fear nor favour.
Always stand firm but remain fair.


Remember to take good care of your team, for at the end of the day, you are a team leader that others look to for advice, guidance and their Safety. Let that be your primary thought at all times.


ENJOY your flying and fly PROFESSIONALLY, appreciate your crew and every day of your precious command.