Quote:
Originally Posted by rubixxcube
How competent are most pilots? Ever flown with a guy and thought "Thank God i'm flying this plane and not him"?
And i'm sure if i don't ask someone else will .... and this is OOT so......... Bang any stewardesses?
Although there are varying degrees of competence (as in any job I suppose), I've never flown with anyone whose skills were so bad that I was overly concerned. I remember one instance, however, when I was checking out a new First Officer (that's what we call them, not "co-pilots") for my airline. Before we went flying he was making small talk with me and asked if I had ever been scared while flying this particular airplane. This question seemed very odd coming from another airline pilot. I considered and told him, honestly, that I couldn't think of any such instance. Then we went to fly our five scheduled flights for that day.
It was a windy, gusty day and I flew the first round trip while he handled radios, etc. and got a feel for line operations. Then I let him fly to Cleveland and told him that if at any point during the approach he was feeling uncomfortable to let me know and I would assume flying duties...it really was a windy day for a first time in the plane.
His approach was ok, but at about 25 feet in the air, over the runway, he chopped power which is the way you would do it in a light general aviation airplane, but definitely not in a larger transport category aircraft. We were falling like a rock for what was sure to be an extremely hard landing, if not an accident, when I shouted "I've got it" and applied some power to smooth out the landing, which ended up to be very acceptable due to this action.
As we taxiied, my mind was a cascading torrent of possible comments but I held it until we got to the gate and the passengers were getting off. Then I turned to him and said "NOW, I've been scared".
BTW, judgment is a completely different arena from skill and there have been a handful of guys who I wouldn't fly with as a passenger and wouldn't let anyone I cared about on their plane either. And I'm not the only pilot who feels this way about some of them.
Sorry to disappoint on the flight attendants (the new name for stewardesses), but I'm married and have been a good boy. Had a few opportunities but passed. Usually not hard on my airline as hotties are few and far between. I do know of several other pilots who have "indulged."
Last edited by W0X0F; 03-21-2015 at 01:19 AM.