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Air India Capt fires F/O outstation

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Air India Capt fires F/O outstation

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Old 27th Nov 2004, 00:20
  #61 (permalink)  
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A recent incident at my company.. I work for the training department and recently a FO that I trained got written up by a line captain, saying that he was useless, couldn't fly etc... he wanted the new FO fired.

One of the other Instructors went flying with him for a second opinion and as it turned out he flew just fine. The captain who wrote him up ended up receiving a talking to about remembering the fact that the reason there are two pilots on these airplanes is so that the captain can help teach the new FO's and make them good enough to be captains themselves one day. Not write them up everytime they do something they don't like.
FO's have it very hard, they have to learn to deal with every captain they fly with and adjust the way they do things to make people happy. I've heard different captains tell FO's to do the same thing completely different ways.
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Old 5th Dec 2004, 01:04
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All very interesting!

I have to say that I am very glad I shall be an ex Captain in a couple of years time. My dear father (an ex BOAC/BA training captain) used to bemoan the "new generation" of F/O's who thought they knew it all and knew very little! CRM training has done little to improve the situation. The word I think I am looking for is "humility". . nobody is suggesting that the Captain knows everything, in fact the Captain that knows everything should have retired already. . . because he has nothing left to fly for if he knows it all; but and this is a very big word - but the F/O is not the aircraft commander nor is he in charge of the crew.
Hopefully the Captain will take into consideration the thoughts and suggestions of the F/O BUT it is the Captain who makes the DECISIONS..not the F/O, not the CSD, not the Chief Hostess the Captain. Perhaps in the Halcyon old days of BOAC the Captain was a little O.T.T with his "Wheels up, Flaps up. Shut up" - but when the F/O begins to question the authority of the Captain and declares that he is happy, no! eager to walk off a flight because the Captain has upset his EGO, then CRM has gone very wrong and in my view taken a wrong turn someplace.

For those of you who think (believe) I am a xxxxxxx as suggested by other posters, maybe I am but let me tell you this - I still get some of my old F/O's whom I have not actually flown with nor seen for many years call me up from time to time; they still call me "Boss" (and trust me the respect is mutual) and most of them are now Captains themselves or on the way to command - so I guess I am not so bad as some of you would wish to have me painted!!

Anyways - I question your sanity when you let posts from me wind you up, you should get out more!!

Ha ha ha !!
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Old 5th Dec 2004, 13:51
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M Ali 411A et Al...

Look forward to your last words on the CRM. However I don't think they will be on PPRUNE. Most likely I will be reading them in a CVR transcription in a CRM case study. Along with all the others you obviously haven't listened to. Bear in mind, if you actually got it wrong the FO may just be saving YOUR LIFE! as well as PAX and his own.

Just that happened to a colleague in a flag carrying domestic operation. The a/c in question had just been fitted with a new FMS. Captain said he knew how to use it as it was similar to the one on his old type. He went outside SOP and used FMS to establish LOC. At which point A/c turned sharply away from the LOC because the course bar had not been correctly set. The aircraft was then 80 feet from a radio mast and close to striking several blocks of flats (apartments - for the interlectually challenged).

Details:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/group...ty_500888.hcsp

What the report doesnt say is that the FO took control during the go around which is when the flightpath was stabilised.


Gentleman - pride comes before a fall. I look forward to learning form your mistakes.

Last edited by Cruise Alt; 5th Dec 2004 at 14:26.
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Old 5th Dec 2004, 23:20
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Hi MercenaryAli,

I really like your posting! Thats exactly the way I think. CRM is a very important aspect, a part of our job. But especially the least experianced F/Os sometimes seem to believe, its the major goal of the captain, to make them personally happy. The major goal is to do a safe and efficient job, even if the young lad is not happy with the way of doing it :-).
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Old 5th Dec 2004, 23:27
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Thank you sir!

Infernetto -
________________________

Many thanks - evidently a well balanced, intellligent and experienced pilot! Thanks be to God there are still some of us around!

Have a Merry Christmas and Safe & Prosperous New Year 2005.
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Old 6th Dec 2004, 07:23
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Thumbs down

Mercenali, perhaps the most disappointing part of aviation is that people like you still get to make a living flying. I'm gladder than you are that you will be an ex Capt in couple of years. Everyone flying will feel safer. Why don't YOU show a little humility . Thank god I don't work for your company, YOU TOO CAN HAVE AN ACCIDENT sir Chuck Yeager of winsor...great leaders use all there RESOURCES.... you know.... the R in CRM. "your old FO's"...sounds like they were your b#tches not your collegues. Maybe I should get out more and you should too instead of throwing stones from that glass castle you live in o royal highness of aviation.
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Old 6th Dec 2004, 08:15
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six7driver
You obviously have either not done a crm course or failed miserably given your last posting.

Nowhere on mercenary alis posts did he sink to name calling or the invective you have just spat out.

I bet my left one you are still an f/o!

Look for the sake of clarity let me inform you that the captain has the ultimate authority for the safe operation of the flight and it is his signature on the load sheet, flight plan and as such his licence is on the line...not yours.

You may not agree with the way he does things, but if it is within sop's and not going to endanger the operation then you do it that way ..full stop.

There is nothing in my companies sop's that say I have to give a sector to the first officer and if I thought he was neither experienced enough on type given the operating enviroment or was being a pain in my ass then he would not get the sector.

Having said that , not once in my career have I had to do the latter but my crm skills were tested on the odd occaision!

We have all been f/o's at some stage of our careers and the argumentive ones do indeed take longer to get their commands, if at all.
I will leave it to you to decide which one you want to be.
Now have a merry xmas and drink in some good cheer



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Old 6th Dec 2004, 10:33
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67 driver - Nothing in M.Ali's posts justify your rant. You ask him to show humility, but what I've noticed, following this thread, is that while the captains are very willing to admit their vulnerability to errors, all the FOs do is repeat that "Captains can make errors". Yes, we all know that.

The fact that the FO can also be wrong seems to have been overlooked (by the FOs). That fits with what I was saying earlier about a new breed of FOs who think they are in command if they disagree with the Commander.

In a disagreement, in the air, someone has to have the final say. Should it be the one who can shout loudest? No, if the thing cannot be resolved by mutual agreement the Captain must decide.
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Old 6th Dec 2004, 13:35
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When you think you have all the answers, Life comes and changes all the questions
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Old 6th Dec 2004, 16:01
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The fact that the FO can also be wrong seems to have been overlooked (by the FOs).
Sadly, I make as many mistakes as most other pilots. (I made one or two embarassing ones on this morning's early shift. Good thing the Captain spotted them. Thanks Pete).
The point I failed to make earlier (I also sometimes make mistakes or omissions in my posts on PPRuNe ) is that if a Captain makes a mistake which I spot, it does not lessen the respect I have for him (or her). There are times when I ask a skipper about something and the mistake turns out to be mine. It is still safer to ask...
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Old 6th Dec 2004, 16:51
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Talking

So if you decide to go below mins on a approach your FO should just sit there with his thumb up his rear and say sir yes sir. "The FO could be wrong" really what an amazing discovery you've made, guess what so could you. Obviously right?, of course the PIC has final authority, no matter what his title is, that's not what my rant as opposed to your rant is aimed at. I am a PIC.

My crew is my last line of defence from my own mistakes. Safety first, not Captain first, or FO first, or anyone first, it's not a p#ssing contest gentlemen.
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Old 6th Dec 2004, 17:12
  #72 (permalink)  
 
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There may be reasons, but there are two people in the cockpit for a very good reason, whatever the misunderstanding, toys must be kept in the cot at all times..

Can't really get rid of people you don't agree with. Imagine some of the systems onboard acted like this. We have multiple systems for redundancy, thank god they are machines!!

Obviously this guy will get severely questioned, and I am dying to find out more.. ie the F/O tried to roll the thing, or he did something very unsafe. Maybe he didn't agree to spoon with the cpt on the night stop!!
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Old 6th Dec 2004, 19:11
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Safety First boys

SIX7......

I fully agree with you on this one buddy, it looks like we are having a big thing about Capt this F/O that ......

Hey Captains are not always right, Surely the Capt is the boss of the A/C the F/O is equally responsible for the safety of that A/C.

However I do know, that Air India has some F/O's that are there b/c of Influence and use of Political power. Maybe the F/O was just one of them.

End of the Day, we want to fly safe so keep the fight pending until out at the BAR

L F
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Old 7th Dec 2004, 09:56
  #74 (permalink)  
 
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On the contrary I am not having a rant at all, I am just stating it like it is.

As for sitting there with "your thumb up your bum" as you put it while your captain goes below minimums then you have not comprehended what I said or do not understand the meaning of sops.

I don't know of any airline except maybe yours that has an sop that says you can go below minimums if you arent visual.

Read what I said
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Old 11th Dec 2004, 08:40
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Thank you all

For six7driver - I am sorry that you feel the way you do! You are obviously in need of therapy your rudeness astonishes me! No they were, and I hope still are, my ex-colleagues, my friends and fellow pilots. I am sure you have missed the point and evidently have no idea what SOP's are about; when we reach(ed) DH or DA and nothing was seen except the inside of cloud we went around that is not what this is all about! Get out more and mix with sane people it might help!

++++++++++++++++++

For all those of you who have understood what I was writing about and where I was coming from and have shown support; a sincere Thank You gentlemen and of course ladies!

To you all a Very Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year 2005 and will someone please send six7driver on a CRM course he evidently needs one when he sinks to the name calling and invective he uses in his posts.

Retirement to my ranch in Tn will be wonderful!!


Last edited by MercenaryAli; 11th Dec 2004 at 16:06.
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Old 11th Dec 2004, 20:24
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In Response to Lone Falcon's Comment:

Lone Falcon, you stated:

"However I do know, that Air India has some F/O's that are there b/c of Influence and use of Political power. Maybe the F/O was just one of them"

I'm sure what you stated above was meant with no ill intention and while I do not disagree with you, I think the cooment was very unfair.

What were talking about here is Nepotism plain and simple. Funny, I know another country whose airline culture have for decades operated on this principle - It was pretty much the basis for the way it was plain and simple for a long time - who you know and not what you know or how good you are or if "he is one of us" (I say he as for a long time "a she" was simply unthinkable). Even today, it exists greater than you may think - I (like most I bet) know quite a few people who got airline jobs because they had contacts or influence - the fact that they could not fly or were substandard had nothing to do with it and that country is the UK.

We are great over here at critising other countries for what they do but we think we are so much better than anyone else when it comes to morality - we are not - Nepotism has always been a large & silent part of the UK pilot hiring process and always will be and the UK is probably the best and largest example of it in the Western world. The fact is it exists everywhere - its just the level of it that differs. I have no problem if someone gets a job if they have contacts IF they can justify it - ie, the person is fully capable of doing the job to standards required - period. It is called networking. What I detest is when they just get a job just because they are connected and cannot do the job and displace someone who is truly deserving. I think we here in the UK should recognise our own double standards (which we incidentally export all over the world) before then accusing others of it - it smacks of pure backward, hypocritical colonial attiudes. Compared to what it claims to be, The UK is probably one of the nepotistic, collusional, prejudicial and unfair pilot hiring markets around. Like it or not, it is fact.
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Old 12th Dec 2004, 02:49
  #77 (permalink)  
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Spicy X,
An IMHO at the end of your post would not be astray.

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Old 12th Dec 2004, 20:02
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Prospector: You stated:

"An IMHO at the end of your post would not be astray."

Prospector

The very poiny being that it is not an opinion, but FACT, precludes me or anyone else from doing so. (by definition, facts are incompatible with opinions). Please read last line again. I would however be interested, as a New Zealander, why you take issue with what was stated - do you know something from over there, that we who have lived with the reality of culture of pilot hiring in the UK for the last few decades that we do not? If so, please kindly inform and enlighten us UK nationals with fact and relevant information and I am sure we will be very grateful to you. I know I will be.
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Old 13th Dec 2004, 03:57
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Spicy X,
You say the UK is probably the most etc etc etc
Do you know the hiring policy of the rest of the worlds airlines?
Then you state it is a fact what you think of UK hiring policy



How could one person in one life time know everything about all the airlines in the UK and their hiring procedures. Can you state your opinions are fact?? Would everybody in the UK agree with your statement?? If not how could it be a fact???

Prospector

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Old 13th Dec 2004, 17:59
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Prospector: You stated:

"You say the UK is probably the most etc etc etc
Do you know the hiring policy of the rest of the worlds airlines?
Then you state it is a fact what you think of UK hiring policy

How could one person in one life time know everything about all the airlines in the UK and their hiring procedures. Can you state your opinions are fact?? Would everybody in the UK agree with your statement?? If not how could it be a fact???"


First of all, I think nearly everybody in aviation would agree with me with the old saying - "its not what you know but who you know" that can open up doors for one in aviation. It is very well known and accepted here in the UK (and most places) - I cannot comment about NZ as I have no information or experience of. But then, I wonder who you are to question me about my comments on my own country's aviation history. You hardly seem qualified being in another hemisphere. I think I know more about hiring in the UK than you and I presume you know more about hiring in NZ than I do. I also stated the nepotism exists everywhere - it's just the degree of it that differs. You did not seem to have a problem when lone falcon stated (in good faith I believe) that the AI F/O got his job via influence.

Secondly, I never claimed to know the rest of the worlds airlines hiring policies - I never even mentioned them, so why you made the comment bemuses me. I just made factual statements about the UK pilot hiring history and philosophy. (I wish you would read what was written.) For your information, the very basis of UK civilian pilot hiring was based on a traditional model of hiring from the military, That is historical and fact. The airlines operated like this HERE for decades. As such, such cultures permeated their way through the entire industry for a long time. If you weren't from a military background - you did not get in. Fact. Civilians had a very tough time, as did women. As did coloured people. As did white people who were simply "not the right stock" or spoke with "that funny northern accent." Yes, things have progressed greatly and are moving in the right direction, but the fact (not what I think, but what I & most HERE know, is that the issue of nepotism, exists here, always has existed and always will exist. What you do not understand as a foreigner that WE do as a BRITS is that is part of our culture. Virtually everyone here knows this and of the very many pilots I know here, most know at least someone who got a job through nepotism. If they can do the job - fine, but I only have issue if they just get in because of contacts, cannot fly and displace a truly deserving person who can. I have no problems with networking.

When you have lived here a lifetime and been part of the process then please pass comments as to my sincerity - if you haven't, don't try to twist things or at least try to understand hat was being read. I stated 'probably' as I do not know which country in Western World (not the rest of the world as you improperly stated) is worst but FACT in the case that the UK is a prime contender. I never stated I knew all the UK airlines hiring policies, but I believe, living over here, humbly put, I have a greater understanding (as do most who live here) than you do, so I am far more factual in my comments than you are.

Let me try a give you a simple example: it is FACT here that the Head of the UK Police and after several official enquiries have declared the UK Police system is "INSTITUTIONALLY RACIST" This is a matter of public record. Does it mean that all UK Police officers are racist? Of course not. What it means is that the very controlling foundation/system in which they OPERATE is racist. Most people in the UK knew this for decades, but as most things, it was covered up or denied by the system. We brits are used to a duality of systems and are wellm aware of it. you it seems are not. It is now, because of changes in society and the outlook of the majority of modern police officers who brought this out into the open as they were being seen to be racist when they were not. The same principle applies to the UK pilot hiring market - everyone knows that nepotism plays a big part as it is a large part of the hiring culture - it's just that it is not made official. The reason is I believe, due to an imbalance of power and a lack of transparency & accountability (and that is my opinion).

Having trained over 200 military pilots from around the world for military to civilian transition training in addition over cadets from airlines ranging from Europe, USA, Middle East, Far East & South America and being involved with the hiring /selection teams for many of these, I have learnt a LITTLE bit about what goes on within certain airlines from certain countries and certain cultures. It is by no means all knowing but just my learning, experience of. I am however allowed to state FACT about my own country which what I did. Please do try try to twist things around and be a little more circumspect before making personal comments. I will tell you one thing though, I do believe that a person or entity exists that does know everything about everything and it is a FACT that it is not me, and IMHO, PROBABLY NOT YOU either.
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