Appreciate the reminder—I've only got mid-20,000 hours, so it's helpful to finally get some real-world wisdom from someone who clearly understands how to evaluate a pilot’s soul by glancing at three letters on their license.Blackdog0301 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 28, 2025 9:31 pmdigits_ wrote: ↑Mon Apr 28, 2025 8:32 pmDo you interview every FO you fly with to see if they match your personal preferences? Do you need to see their resume before closing the door?Blackdog0301 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 28, 2025 7:53 pm
I tend to agree with you cdn. No pilot with less than 1500 hours knows their own limits yet, nevermind a captain that's never flown with them before. I'm fairly certain that Sunwing even had barriers set up for these pilots and captain's were used to flying with low time FO's. Westjet captain's have not, and for the most part have only flown with FO's with significantly more experience. If you're a captain flying with an FO with only a CPL and an unverified number of hours landing in 20G30 knots on a wet 6000 foot runway, are you really wanting to find out their limits under those conditions? I certainly wouldn't! This is new territory for Westjet, and a necessary piece of information for captains. Pilots with only a CPL can not and should not be treated as an equal pilot when it comes to challenging conditions when they only make up 5% or less of FOs
If they have been flying the airplane type for 3 years, what does it matter if hey hold an ATPL or a CPL? If you notice after 2 sectors they seem to know what they are doing, why treat them differently based on a piece of paper that is not legally required?
If the FO has more experience than you, do you swap seats?
This is an absolute non issue that should not be abused by people that feel slighted by a fellow pilot for something that happened that they can not control.
When a captain pulls up their schedule, they will immediately see that they only have a CPL. You don't need to ask them or interview them. You'll already know. Now you have to decide... Which leg do you let them fly? Do you let them have the YYZ-YYC leg where the weather is good, daylight, long runways? Or do you let them fly the YYC-PSP leg with gusty winds and a turbulent approach, an airport they've never flown into, where ATC always keeps you high, and then slamdunks you onto a visual approach? It doesn't take a genius to decide.
I'm sorry, but you don't have the experience as a sub-1500 hour pilot to complain about when the captain let's you fly or doesn't let you fly. You've got a job. Enjoy it. And in your off time, study for your exams, write them, rent a 152,get your PIC and night cross country in, and get the friggin licence! If you don't like it and want to go your whole career with a CPL, go work somewhere that hires CPL pilots! Because you now have a job that no other CPL pilot in the country can get.
Honestly, every time I fly with someone sub-15,000 hours now, I just pull up their license, gasp audibly, and immediately assign them legs based on whether the approach involves sunlight and emotional support puppies. Who needs CRM when you've got clairvoyance, right?
And of course, I always remind those junior FOs: “You’ve got a job, be grateful, now rent a 152 and go get the friggin license like it’s 1992 and we’re all still logging night cross-country in Cessnas on paper maps.”
Thanks again for your guidance. I’ll be sure to keep sorting pilots by acronyms instead of actual performance.
— A humble 20k+ dinosaur who clearly needs to get with the times