What follows is one particular successful Captain’s notes about his Command Course in one particular Airline – the good, the bad and the ugly.
We’ll call him Agent Jay (“…the difference between you and me is, I make this look good!”) to preserve his anonymity and de-identify the specifics. This will be a generalised account of what any Command Trainee could expect, in any Airline, flying any aircraft type. I have very slightly edited the text, to protect the innocent, but it is 97.5% straight from Captain Jay, in his own words.
Captain Jay emerged triumphant (a little battered and bruised) from the Command Training sausage machine about 10 months ago. This is real life Command stuff and contains some very pertinent points – read on if you dare!
It goes without saying that preparation is essential, but just reading the books isn’t enough. You need friends and colleagues to discuss scenarios with. You need to make your own decisions based on the information available to you and have your friends critique your answers. They may suggest other courses of action or pick holes in your answers. You need to get into the books to find certain things but not to memorise them, just to find them and maybe just to see if that word was “should, shall, must or may”!
When people tell you not to let your guard down, they really mean it. When you feel comfortable and confident, that’s when you relax and miss small things. They may seem insignificant but they are all noticed and written in the training reports. Once you get up to the standard required for, say, the Command Line Check to become a Captain, you must work just as hard to maintain that standard in the flights leading up to it. That requires a surprising amount of effort.
Every small error or omission during training may be written up, even though your Trainer may now seem like a friend. These small things will add up and be looked at unfavourably during a review of your training reports. Your aim is to get perfect reports. If your Checker is sitting on the fence about something during the debrief, push him onto the favourable side! Ask him if he considers you suitable to carry on with the training or to stop the Course, then he should agree that you should continue with the Course and write a report to mirror that.
Formulate a method of dealing with problems.
With passenger problems, make sure you get as much info as you can. That may involve speaking to the passenger yourself, especially if safety is the issue and you need to do a character assessment. Otherwise use the ISM (Inflight Service Manager) and ground staff to get information for you. Remember that their opinion may be different to yours.
With technical problems, try to fix it. If you cannot, call an engineer to try and fix it ASAP (on the ground). While waiting, get as much info as you can. Use the QRH, FCOM 3 (Abnormal, Normal and Supplementary Procedures) and MEL to find out all you can, including if you can go without it. Engineers and the airline's engineering department are a tool for you to use but you must not trust them completely as they are human too. There are countless stories of engineers instructing pilots to do something contrary to an OEB (Operational Engineering Bulletin – takes precedence over FCOM 3 procedures) or even bare faced lying about a problem, particularly at some of our outports. Some engineers may need your input to help solve a problem. Make sure you get engineers to explain the problem well enough for you to understand exactly what is wrong and what the implications are.
On the subject of not trusting anyone, items written in as an ADD (Acceptable Deferred Defect – in the Aircraft maintenance Logbook) are sometimes wrong, despite having been written up days prior. Perhaps some Line Captains don’t check the small print regularly, or just missed it, but on your Command Course, when you look at an ADD in the MEL, make sure it’s right because your Checker or Trainer will be looking at it right after you. Use any available engineering sources before your flight to give you a heads up about ADDs and the procedures involved.
Don’t guess. Don’t formulate a strategy without all the info. Look it up. It’s not a memory test. You are allowed to look at the books. There may have been an amendment yesterday. This is why a good working knowledge of the books is required, or at least a good (updated) index of our manuals so that you can find things quickly.
While you may feel you want to back up your ISM on something, make sure it is the right decision. (S)he may have jumped to a conclusion without all the info. Think of the ramifications. One of my ISMs wanted to offload a female passenger for popping 20 pills. It turns out it was only about 5 pills and the passenger was a movie star. That wouldn’t have been good advertising for the airline if she’d complained to the newspapers the next day for being offloaded for taking Vitamin E!
ECAM/EICAS cautions require you to sit on your hands and think. They may go away. If there are no ECAM/EICAS actions you have hit a dead end straight away. Think resets (of computers and equipment), use the QRH for that, always. Cautions in busy phases of flight should be assessed and left until later (flaps retracted for example) if possible.
When you fly with a F/O, the biggest challenge is that you are no longer sitting next to an STC (Senior Training Captain), you are with a normal F/O who may be nervous about the STC sitting on the jump seat. At least now you can act more like a Captain, but ensure that you keep a ‘command gradient’ from left to right. With confident senior F/Os this may be difficult but there are tricks to keeping a tangible gradient, such as delegating ND range changes, frequency changes, FM page changes. The best way is to be one step ahead of him. Don’t give him the chance to prompt you for engine anti-ice, radio calls, TCAS traffic or anything at all.
A new challenge for you is to analyse his personality from the moment you meet him at dispatch. Is he a JF/O (Junior First Officer)? What are his limits? Which sector do you want him to fly? You may find, like me, that some JF/Os may appear under-confident but are some of the best operators we have. Similarly, some senior F/Os can appear confident so you trust them more, then they lose the plot and make a big mistake.You are constantly analysing the guy next to you, and hopefully monitoring him despite tiredness and complacency.
Gut instinct is one of your best tools. Before a Command Course we think that there is a special formula needed to make Command decisions, or that you may not have developed a Command decision process yet, but this is wrong. Whenever you are presented with a problem, as an F/O or a Command Trainee, you have always formulated a solution or plan of action. The only difference now is that you have to volunteer your thoughts first rather than wait for the Captain to voice his (as YOU are now the Captain). Over the years you have hopefully gained enough experience to now trust your gut instinct and to not doubt your ability to reach sensible decisions. I surprised myself through my Command Course at how many decisions were based on gut instinct rather than theoretical analysis, and were right!
The rest of it is down to luck…and your personality! If you are relaxed, confident and on top of everything, you will look good and fly through the Course. A day full of technical and weather challenges can either make you look superb or hopeless, that’s all down to you!
Some further thoughts about being the Captain:
Big picture stuff. Command Presence. Assertiveness. Awareness. Spare capacity. Intervention. Run the show. Set the tone. Professional. Businesslike. Be in control. Think ahead.
The standard operation should be second nature by now, leaving spare capacity for awareness and planning. That includes standard triggers, which must not be overlooked.
Direct the F/O, but don’t ride him. He doesn’t need to be your friend, he needs to do what you say when you say it. Don’t say “Can you…would you…please.” Say “Give me this…Activate the Approach Phase…Before Start Checklist”. No flippant remarks. Be serious.
Get the F/O to fly the aircraft the way you want it flown. I don’t care what you think, I want it, just do it! (but use appropriate CRM). Even with a friendly crew, do not let your guard down. Don’t accept everything the F/O says verbatim.
The flight must be safe, legal and efficient.
Delegate, direct, no need for please, it’s a big operation.
Anticipate and verbalise threats and strategies (to mitigate those threats). E.g. – Plan A is to regain the ILS before 1500’ with self vectoring and descent to 1600’. Plan B is to go around which will be non-standard towards an MSA of xxxx. (Communication of Intent and your plan).
Aim for zero error. If an error occurs try to get back to the zero error position ASAP. (If you fly into a thunderstorm, get out. If you have a tech problem, try to fix it. If you get high, get down.)
What’s next? Think ahead. (Packs to come on. Engine Anti-Ice on for take-off. Call Departures after flap retraction. Speed control required while in selected speed)
Eager F/O? Beat him to it. Out-eager him. Verbalise everything!
If the command gradient feels just right, increase it! (don’t over do it though.)
Give reminders to the PF. Direct his FM page selection if necessary. Direct his choice of runway exit if necessary. (He stomps on brakes for a nearby exit, tell him to take the next one.)
In quiet moments, say something relevant. Look ahead, amend something, check something. However, never miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut! Some comment you make may prompt a difficult question.
Volunteer information on events that occur. If there’s the possibility of a missed approach, consider TCAS ALL or ABOVE.
Any ‘gut reaction’ is probably correct; act on it.
Aim to impress, not to be average. Sell yourself to your Trainer or Checker.
Think ahead of the aircraft even when PM and ask him to clarify his plan. (“Weather ahead, do you want a heading?”)
Look for problems before they arise and have a plan to counter them.
Confirm ATC desired speed even when under positive speed control.
Monitor aircraft in front (and behind) on TCAS very closely and listen to instructions given to him by ATC.
No-one knows what I’m thinking. The Checker needs to know my thought process so verbalise them.
Think through briefs to yourself first, then brief the PM.
You are the last line of defence. It must be right!
Thanks Captain Jay for that sage advice.
What do you think? Is he right, wrong or you haven’t got a clue? Add your comments by clicking on the COMMENTS button below.
We’ll call him Agent Jay (“…the difference between you and me is, I make this look good!”) to preserve his anonymity and de-identify the specifics. This will be a generalised account of what any Command Trainee could expect, in any Airline, flying any aircraft type. I have very slightly edited the text, to protect the innocent, but it is 97.5% straight from Captain Jay, in his own words.
Captain Jay emerged triumphant (a little battered and bruised) from the Command Training sausage machine about 10 months ago. This is real life Command stuff and contains some very pertinent points – read on if you dare!
It goes without saying that preparation is essential, but just reading the books isn’t enough. You need friends and colleagues to discuss scenarios with. You need to make your own decisions based on the information available to you and have your friends critique your answers. They may suggest other courses of action or pick holes in your answers. You need to get into the books to find certain things but not to memorise them, just to find them and maybe just to see if that word was “should, shall, must or may”!
When people tell you not to let your guard down, they really mean it. When you feel comfortable and confident, that’s when you relax and miss small things. They may seem insignificant but they are all noticed and written in the training reports. Once you get up to the standard required for, say, the Command Line Check to become a Captain, you must work just as hard to maintain that standard in the flights leading up to it. That requires a surprising amount of effort.
Every small error or omission during training may be written up, even though your Trainer may now seem like a friend. These small things will add up and be looked at unfavourably during a review of your training reports. Your aim is to get perfect reports. If your Checker is sitting on the fence about something during the debrief, push him onto the favourable side! Ask him if he considers you suitable to carry on with the training or to stop the Course, then he should agree that you should continue with the Course and write a report to mirror that.
Formulate a method of dealing with problems.
With passenger problems, make sure you get as much info as you can. That may involve speaking to the passenger yourself, especially if safety is the issue and you need to do a character assessment. Otherwise use the ISM (Inflight Service Manager) and ground staff to get information for you. Remember that their opinion may be different to yours.
With technical problems, try to fix it. If you cannot, call an engineer to try and fix it ASAP (on the ground). While waiting, get as much info as you can. Use the QRH, FCOM 3 (Abnormal, Normal and Supplementary Procedures) and MEL to find out all you can, including if you can go without it. Engineers and the airline's engineering department are a tool for you to use but you must not trust them completely as they are human too. There are countless stories of engineers instructing pilots to do something contrary to an OEB (Operational Engineering Bulletin – takes precedence over FCOM 3 procedures) or even bare faced lying about a problem, particularly at some of our outports. Some engineers may need your input to help solve a problem. Make sure you get engineers to explain the problem well enough for you to understand exactly what is wrong and what the implications are.
On the subject of not trusting anyone, items written in as an ADD (Acceptable Deferred Defect – in the Aircraft maintenance Logbook) are sometimes wrong, despite having been written up days prior. Perhaps some Line Captains don’t check the small print regularly, or just missed it, but on your Command Course, when you look at an ADD in the MEL, make sure it’s right because your Checker or Trainer will be looking at it right after you. Use any available engineering sources before your flight to give you a heads up about ADDs and the procedures involved.
Don’t guess. Don’t formulate a strategy without all the info. Look it up. It’s not a memory test. You are allowed to look at the books. There may have been an amendment yesterday. This is why a good working knowledge of the books is required, or at least a good (updated) index of our manuals so that you can find things quickly.
While you may feel you want to back up your ISM on something, make sure it is the right decision. (S)he may have jumped to a conclusion without all the info. Think of the ramifications. One of my ISMs wanted to offload a female passenger for popping 20 pills. It turns out it was only about 5 pills and the passenger was a movie star. That wouldn’t have been good advertising for the airline if she’d complained to the newspapers the next day for being offloaded for taking Vitamin E!
ECAM/EICAS cautions require you to sit on your hands and think. They may go away. If there are no ECAM/EICAS actions you have hit a dead end straight away. Think resets (of computers and equipment), use the QRH for that, always. Cautions in busy phases of flight should be assessed and left until later (flaps retracted for example) if possible.
When you fly with a F/O, the biggest challenge is that you are no longer sitting next to an STC (Senior Training Captain), you are with a normal F/O who may be nervous about the STC sitting on the jump seat. At least now you can act more like a Captain, but ensure that you keep a ‘command gradient’ from left to right. With confident senior F/Os this may be difficult but there are tricks to keeping a tangible gradient, such as delegating ND range changes, frequency changes, FM page changes. The best way is to be one step ahead of him. Don’t give him the chance to prompt you for engine anti-ice, radio calls, TCAS traffic or anything at all.
A new challenge for you is to analyse his personality from the moment you meet him at dispatch. Is he a JF/O (Junior First Officer)? What are his limits? Which sector do you want him to fly? You may find, like me, that some JF/Os may appear under-confident but are some of the best operators we have. Similarly, some senior F/Os can appear confident so you trust them more, then they lose the plot and make a big mistake.You are constantly analysing the guy next to you, and hopefully monitoring him despite tiredness and complacency.
Gut instinct is one of your best tools. Before a Command Course we think that there is a special formula needed to make Command decisions, or that you may not have developed a Command decision process yet, but this is wrong. Whenever you are presented with a problem, as an F/O or a Command Trainee, you have always formulated a solution or plan of action. The only difference now is that you have to volunteer your thoughts first rather than wait for the Captain to voice his (as YOU are now the Captain). Over the years you have hopefully gained enough experience to now trust your gut instinct and to not doubt your ability to reach sensible decisions. I surprised myself through my Command Course at how many decisions were based on gut instinct rather than theoretical analysis, and were right!
The rest of it is down to luck…and your personality! If you are relaxed, confident and on top of everything, you will look good and fly through the Course. A day full of technical and weather challenges can either make you look superb or hopeless, that’s all down to you!
Some further thoughts about being the Captain:
Big picture stuff. Command Presence. Assertiveness. Awareness. Spare capacity. Intervention. Run the show. Set the tone. Professional. Businesslike. Be in control. Think ahead.
The standard operation should be second nature by now, leaving spare capacity for awareness and planning. That includes standard triggers, which must not be overlooked.
Direct the F/O, but don’t ride him. He doesn’t need to be your friend, he needs to do what you say when you say it. Don’t say “Can you…would you…please.” Say “Give me this…Activate the Approach Phase…Before Start Checklist”. No flippant remarks. Be serious.
Get the F/O to fly the aircraft the way you want it flown. I don’t care what you think, I want it, just do it! (but use appropriate CRM). Even with a friendly crew, do not let your guard down. Don’t accept everything the F/O says verbatim.
The flight must be safe, legal and efficient.
Delegate, direct, no need for please, it’s a big operation.
Anticipate and verbalise threats and strategies (to mitigate those threats). E.g. – Plan A is to regain the ILS before 1500’ with self vectoring and descent to 1600’. Plan B is to go around which will be non-standard towards an MSA of xxxx. (Communication of Intent and your plan).
Aim for zero error. If an error occurs try to get back to the zero error position ASAP. (If you fly into a thunderstorm, get out. If you have a tech problem, try to fix it. If you get high, get down.)
What’s next? Think ahead. (Packs to come on. Engine Anti-Ice on for take-off. Call Departures after flap retraction. Speed control required while in selected speed)
Eager F/O? Beat him to it. Out-eager him. Verbalise everything!
If the command gradient feels just right, increase it! (don’t over do it though.)
Give reminders to the PF. Direct his FM page selection if necessary. Direct his choice of runway exit if necessary. (He stomps on brakes for a nearby exit, tell him to take the next one.)
In quiet moments, say something relevant. Look ahead, amend something, check something. However, never miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut! Some comment you make may prompt a difficult question.
Volunteer information on events that occur. If there’s the possibility of a missed approach, consider TCAS ALL or ABOVE.
Any ‘gut reaction’ is probably correct; act on it.
Aim to impress, not to be average. Sell yourself to your Trainer or Checker.
Think ahead of the aircraft even when PM and ask him to clarify his plan. (“Weather ahead, do you want a heading?”)
Look for problems before they arise and have a plan to counter them.
Confirm ATC desired speed even when under positive speed control.
Monitor aircraft in front (and behind) on TCAS very closely and listen to instructions given to him by ATC.
No-one knows what I’m thinking. The Checker needs to know my thought process so verbalise them.
Think through briefs to yourself first, then brief the PM.
You are the last line of defence. It must be right!
Thanks Captain Jay for that sage advice.
What do you think? Is he right, wrong or you haven’t got a clue? Add your comments by clicking on the COMMENTS button below.
1 comments:
Excellent post. I have a command assessment this week and will be putting your advice to good use.
Thanks
ASW19
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