Should I report my F/O?

Question

I am a regional pilot, (CRJ rated to be exact) and the other day my F/O compromised the safety of my flight.

We were coming in for final, he was in control of the plane, I was going over checklist, communicating with Air Traffic control. I look over and see the parking brake was on. i said nothing of it, and just switched it off. I looked over again in just a few minutes time and it was on. I did mention it to him, by saying try not to hit the switch.

I thought nothing of it until today, when I was sitting with my friend who is a captain for the same airline, and said he saw the same thing a while back.

Indeed it was a stupid act, and I should have filed a incident report right there and then, it put my flight in harms way and I will take action towards it.

Any thoughts/ options are welcomed.

Answer 1

Your company should have a safety review committee/board that will have published guidelines on this subject. It may be known as the "Chief Pilot's Committee." Some small companies may rely entirely on the Pilot Executive (Chief Pilot) for that kind of oversight. You should be able to discuss this informally with a member of that board.



The guidelines normally indicate that a superior officer send a memo to the chief pilot asking the CP or committee to review the situation. This should be done on the first occasion if the infraction is deemed by the superior officer to be flight critical and/or if an act of insubordination is involved.



How many hours in type does this First Officer have? How much have you flown with him/her? Does he/she have a reputation for doing illogical and/or dangerous things? Did he/she suddenly start flipping switches at odd times, or otherwise happen to be observed acting strangely?



Most airliners that have an electric actuator inserted into the brake system hydraulics also have interlocks designed to prevent an electrical malfunction or pilot error from causing the brakes to be applied while the airplane is in motion; that is, the gear must be down and locked, the squat switch compressed, and the wheels not rotating before the standing brakes will be set, regardless of the position of the controls.



Is your model not equipped with these safety interlocks? I wonder why not. In any case, the interlock would remove the error from the category of "danger to the flight," and place it in the category of "Do you mind explaining to me why you keep doing that?"



In any case, good luck.

Answer 2

I was going to post a technical answer to discredit your question. However the contributor above me has already done so admirably.



So here is an emotional response. I cannot believe so many otherwise learned and credible regular contributors in 'Aircraft' have bought into your B/S!



You do obviously have some aviation knowledge but the basic cadence of ,the verbiage and terms you used to ask your question are almost laughable!



If I am wrong my apologies, but consider the following.



You saw a 'killer item' incorrectly set and thought nothing of it!! provided of course the parking brake could actually have been set in flight by anybody! which I doubt!



You corrected it and when it happened again you only mentioned it??



If this was a real question, setting the brake once as you described would have been an idiotic mistake. For so many reasons not least of which is the fact that to do so is not called for on any in-flight checklist that you were 'going over'!



To do so twice in the period of a few minutes may have been attempted sabotage and time to reach for the crash axe!!



I agree stick with your flight sim!

Answer 3

Named Jetlink and you fly the CRJ?



Um, the CRJ parking brake isn't a switch, it's a pull and twist handle. Given that it's towards the back of the center pedestal and the FO was flying I find it hard to believe that he/she would be able to lean over to pull the handle without you noticing in the first place. Not only that but setting the parking brake isn't easy to set from the right seat either.



Here's a picture of the center pedestal of a CRJ-200.



http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-Nostrum-(Iberia/Canadair-CL-600-2B19-Regional/0389259/L/



You can see the parking brake in the lower left of the pedestal and see how hard that would be to grab, twist and pull up about 6" while sitting and flying from the right seat. It's got some resistance to it so it doesn't just easily slide up or down.



I'm calling BS on this one. Airlines have set protocol for handling such problems internally and if you worked for one you'd be a phone call or email away from dealing with this issue. Never in all my years or hours of working for an airline have I heard of or seen an FO or Captain for that matter do something so intentionally irresponsible especially with an attempt to hide it from the other pilot.



If for some reason there is some truth to this you seriously need to grow a pair. As a captain it is your duty to handle a situation like this immediately, not go home and post about it online looking for advice. There is no "putting the switch back" and not saying anything. Seriously if someone does something so irresponsible and you say nothing you are just as irresponsible.



Man, you are either a terrible captain or just another wannabe making up stuff to post about. Stick to Flight Sim.

Answer 4

CRM is all well and good, but there comes a time when as pilot in command you'll have to get in the guy's face and ask him: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YA DOIN' THAT FOR? KNOCK THAT S@#% OFF!"



The distractions of everyday life have a habit of creeping into the cockpit and nobody's immune from from having stuff happen. This could be a case where he's got stuff going on that's keeping him from fully concentrating on his job. He might be reasonably competent, just inexperienced. You've got to be a little more assertive if you want to get the standard procedures out of the guy. (This sometimes means that you'll have to replace "-ertive" with "-hole." So be it. Just don't go there too often. That might reveal that you may be the one with the greater problem.)

Answer 5

The bizjets I fly require a fair amount of muscle to engage the parking brake--you pull a handle. I've never seen it selected in flight. Do you just flip a switch in the RJ?

(Side note: the regionals' hiring minimums are frightening.

The companies I've flown for might let a comm-multi-inst with a few hundred hours work in the office or work the line, but not F.O.)

You use the phrase "he was in control of the plane". Fair statement if he was flying, but you were still in command of the plane.

Anyway, good luck.

Answer 6

I am not a big fan of flying unless I'm flying the plane myself. It's the whole thing about not being in control and depending on others to make split second decisions that may prove fatal.

A situation like this proves my point. Somebody's stupid mistake may cost my life and others' and it's completely unnecessary.



You're right to take action towards it. Your F/O could be the greatest guy in the world and a fine pilot too, but incompetence on the flight deck is a serious issue and it should always be addressed.

Answer 7

Well Id talk to a chief pilot and see about making a note to pass along through the company. Why would they keep turing the parking brake on for landing? Obviously there needs to be some refresher courses or a company mandate about this. Best of luck to you

Answer 8

I met a guy who used to do government secrets and techniques in the forties and 50s. the adult males in black saved telling him that he wasn't there to invite questions yet to be sure how particular issues have been made. He could no longer tell me something for the reason that he became under pressure all of the time. have been given to suck to stay a life like that. I as quickly as asked him if he believed in U.F.O. and extraterrestrial beings, his eyes lit up yet could no longer provide me a sure or no answer. He then became on the television and reported that in the time of many situations the solutions may well be thrown in video clips--purely bits and products. as quickly as he might desire to discover them, then he might desire to assert what have been printed. Too undesirable that he took all his secrets and techniques with him to his grave. I pass over that guy!

Answer 9

Anything to do with safety need to be dealt with ASAP. It is your pax safety and also your own at stake. Think about it this way if you say nothing and you know this guy is no good. Few years down the road maybe he injures or kills a bunch of people, you are going to be playing the blame game on yourself. Alot better to have one F/O mad at you then have that on your mind.

Answer 10

frankly i question your credibility as a captain if you would ask such a question on yahoo answers. or anywhere else for that matter. if somebody came to me and told me that a captain had flown with a guy who was doing this crap but was wondering what he should do about is as captain i'd fire him. i give my complete trust to the captian of the aircraft i'm responsible for as do his passengers. and he can't make a decision as simple as this one. jeez man. quit flying before you hurt someone.

Answer 11

Dude, whatever it takes, you know safety is first up there. If two qualified pilots have mentioned the behavior to him, throw him under the bus.

Answer 12

i think you should absolutely make a report your job is for the safety of your passengers and that means every little switch needs to be in the right position if you had missed that and your friend had missed that imagine the catastrophic disaster

Answer 13

Definitely. If your company have flt ops safety division then bring it to their attention. You could also raise an ASR( AIR SAFETY REPORT).

Answer 14

5, 7 or 9?



I sense a trend...maybe your company's training, manuals and procedures need updating.

Answer 15

Of course you should... Whether it was negligence or accidental it still needs to be explored to make sure it does not needlessly happen in the future... (e.g. supposing it was accidental, maybe the lever/control needs to be relocated)