Pascoe

And.......the thread is descending into a parody of thing it sought to highlight.

Have never done so in the past (and it usually gets done rapidly anyway) but can I be the first to suggest the mods close this one as it's not really going anywhere productive......

IAN-UK

Ruffled feathers from what seems to have been an abrupt request from the pilot in command has generated a considerable amount of speculation, even for our FT standards

I wasn't there: but, there again, neither were any of our speculators bar the OP.
We are dealing with an exchange between third parties reported through the filter of the OP's perception.

On that report we've seen an awful lot of huffing and puffing about the incident's bearing on crew resource management, and the pilot's fitness for his job. I'd suggest BA, along with other airlines, has a robust programme looking at the physical and mental health of its pilots, including rigorous inspections and examinations.

malcolmcampbell

I have found the flight crew on BA polite and often charming. I have a photo of my wife sitting in the driver's seat of a 777 wearing the captain's hat during the short stop in St Lucia on the way to Grenada (at the invitation of said captain). It made her trip.

PUCCI GALORE

I agree with what you say but I'd like the Mods to keep it open. it's a topic that everyone can have a say as we've always had some experience or other. I can only recall one incident when HI complimented the Flight Deck at LGW for a extremely smooth landing.

"Professional Pilot are we Sir? " said the Captain in an extremely snide manner.

" No, but an extremely professional passenger who is among those who pay your wages" said I regardless of the glare HI gave me.

Silence came the stern reply. No we did not complain as we had said all that needed saying to the person involved. That said, normally they are polite pleasant and friendly. I am one who is sorry that they no longer give any type of announcements as often as not. Apparently people do not care for them.

Pascoe

Who doesn't give announcements? you mean the skippers don't but the FOs tend to now?

Is that actually a thing?

KARFA

rapidex

Its up to the Captain who makes the PA announcements. But if you have an F/O coming up to command, ie marking off those above him or her on the seniority list like a child opens the windows of an advent calender, it is probably helpful to let them make a few PA's.There is a lot to do on a command course, and having a bit of a practice at this item helps relieve the strain.

dakaix

In my experience the announcements are made by the pilot flying that sector, unless there's an issue. Such was the case with my AMS service last week which went tech, we were welcomed onboard and given the pre-landing update by the FO. Yet when we went tech at the hold it was the Captain who came on, and continued to do so until we were finally airborne (in our replacement aircraft).

LTN Phobia

I was kind of surprised at the smoothness of a BA 2-bar first officer's PA on a number of occasions, and then remembered that some of the relatively new joiners with BA have probably been experienced captains elsewhere.

albpenny

it may not be the same at BA, but at my husband's airline, the Capt usually does the welcome on board PA and then any mid-flight announcements are by the pilot who's flying that sector. Certainly for them, it's nothing to do with seniority or coming up to command, just who's flying at that time.

KARFA

Globaliser

Is it different on long-haul? Or indeed on CJ? On both BA and CJ, I'm used to it normally being the captain doing the pre-departure announcement, and then the pilot whose sector it is doing the in-flight announcements (which is usually just the TOD announcement).

gms

Like much of the content of Flyertalk then Well, in this case the OP stated that several independent passengers witnessed and were taken aback by the comments.

I'm sure that Lufthansa had robust programmes in place, yet Germanwings Flight 9525 suffered a terrible fate. BA can only monitor and take action if people alert them about incidents. It is highly likely the guy was just having a bad day in which case nothing would happen, or just maybe this would be linked with other reports that would suggest bigger issues were present (that maybe the pilot hadn't consciously realised). Aviation safety relies to a certain degree on people speaking up and alerting authorities about issues. There have been several recent incidents in the UK where pilots have been found to be under the influence of alcohol - these are not always reported by their fellow crew members, but by ground staff. To you this may be "huffing and puffing" and you are quite entitled to just ignore it.

IAN-UK

that's rather the point i was making. Justifying the scale of this huff and puff on the OP's perceptions of how other people felt about something that happened to yet other folk seems a little, well, flimsy.

You misunderstand me: I'd urge the OP to report the incident. And that's that. BA will deal with the report as they see fit. I'd encourage anyone to report an incident that causes them concern.

What I do find tiresome is the in-thread escalation, building the drama with speculation; conflating a moment of unnecessarily assertive behaviour with cockpit conflicts and the horrors of GermanWings serves no purpose at all. [/QUOTE]

Globaliser

If you read the context in which things have been said about CRM and safety, you might see that this is simply being built upon and conflated in your own mind.

Here was the exchange that started it, which draws no such linkage. I need to make no apology for the point that if someone is perenially rude and abrasive, they may not be good at CRM. Indeed, this is probably one of the reasons why almost all BA pilots are not like that; it is part of their safety training to work together as a team, regardless of rank or authority. Even if s0ssos' point might be OK in the NHS, it is not OK on a modern airliner flight deck.