Playing The Hand Dealt To You

When you play a game of cards, you are usually dealt your “hand” of cards after the deck has been randomly shuffled. You don’t get to choose the cards dealt to you and you normally don’t get to exchange your cards for better ones once the game commences.

You have to play with the hand dealt to you – good or bad. What you do with that dealt hand is entirely up to your skill in playing the card game.

And so it is with flying (especially with Command Training). You don’t turn up for work and get to choose whether the weather is good or bad, the aircraft is serviceable or “broken”, your Trainer is a nice bloke or a pain in the arse, you receive quality training or indifferent training, ATC is accommodating or a “hindrance” or your team is helpful or hurtful.

You are presented with a particular set of circumstances and you are expected to deal with those circumstances as best you are able as the Commander and Leader.

It is a complete waste of time, effort and brain cells wishing, hoping or praying that you will get CAVOK weather and a serviceable airframe and great ATC and an all round helpful team. This doesn’t happen too many times in real life (see The Light Comes On).

Too many Command Trainees focus on how “unlucky” they were: the visibility and cloudbase was poor; the aircraft had multiple MEL items, and then it broke on pushback; ATC gave me poor vectors and “forced” me into an unstable approach situation; I got bad advice from the ground engineer etc.

Is this really “bad luck” or is it just the application of sub-standard or poor Command skills, judgement, decision making and/or risk management when presented with less than ideal conditions?

I guess it really depends on your personal attitude towards your Command Training.

My own personal view is that you are presented with a particular set of circumstances, some of which you have absolutely no control or influence over (e.g. the weather or the aircraft serviceability) and some of which you have either a lot of control over (your personal knowledge and preparation) or a little bit of control over (e.g. moulding and engendering an “esprit de corps” in your newly formed team of cockpit and cabin crew). “Luck” is a wimpy excuse for those who are perhaps not quite ready to step up and be the Commander and Leader. Usually the better prepared, the more skilful, the more knowledgeable that you are, the “luckier” you get!

Poor weather, indifferent ATC, a less than helpful F/O or Cabin Crew or an unserviceable aircraft is a “Command Opportunity” for you to demonstrate that you have what it takes to be the Captain of one of your Company’s very expensive assets and to Lead a disparate group of individuals. Sure it may not be a fun, easy trip and you may have to make some hard decisions (and have to live with their consequences or justify your actions), but that’s the chosen lot of a Captain.

As a Trainer I love it when something unusual, novel or complicated happens to one of my Trainees. You get to see who are the good “Commanders” and you get to teach those who are struggling a bit. No Command Course is ever complete until the Command Trainee gets to experience that sweaty, uneasy turmoil of emotions when you are required to make some tough decisions, with not all the required information, in a time compressed situation or fly the aircraft in not so nice weather. You can simulate these types of things in your study all you like but you really have to experience it for real to fully comprehend the “loneliness of Command” that it entails. I also firmly believe that it is better to experience this type of “unease” during Training before you get to have to use it during your Check ride.

Wrap your brain around it – some days you will have to work exceptionally hard just to keep the show on the road and get from A to B (safely, legally and hopefully, reasonably efficiently).

You have to play with the hand dealt to you.

What you do with the particular, unique set of circumstances presented to you is entirely up to you as the Commander.

Play well.

Who Else Can Use AIRLINE COMMAND

Hopefully you’ve read all about the “target audience” for this blog in the Who Is Airline Command For?

When I was in the initial stages of producing this Airline Command blog I originally and intentionally decided to have a fairly well defined and specialised “target audience” of pilots who were approaching Command in civilian airliners. I know this group of pilots pretty well as it is what I am involved with professionally on a day-to-day basis – it’s my primary job at the moment as a Training Captain in my airline Company.

However, most of the aviation topics that are included in this Airline Command blog can definitely be utilised in other broader, alternative fields of aviation.

Power + Attitude = Performance works for a Cessna 172 just as well as a B787 or an A380.

And so CRM, TEM, communication, Leadership and team work, monitoring, earning respect etc. (all stuff that is discussed here) also can be usefully applied in commuter airlines, corporate biz jets, helicopters, GA and in military aircraft.


It can be used here most definitely (in the primary target audience).

But it can equally as well be used here:

Or here:





Or even here:










So if you know of anyone in these other aviation types that you think may benefit from the info squirrelled away in these pages then make sure that you let them know and point them to Airline Command.

If you are an aviator from one of these other fields of aviation, then jump in and get your feet wet! Let us know if this is good info (or crap info) and how your job is different from ours. (See that little blue COMMENTS hyperlink just below here - use it to leave a note for the rest of the readers.)