3 Hardest Parts of being an Airline Captain (that they don’t teach you on the command course!)

Upon reflection of my first year of command, there are 3 themes that seemed to be consistent and challenging, all things that we weren’t taught on the command course. 

1) 2^nd Voice inside your head/doubting yourself.

This was totally new to me. I’ve never been one to doubt myself, and never felt the need to question whether what I was doing was the right thing. When you’re suddenly in command and responsible for 200 passengers behind you, your crew, and a multimillion-pound jet, it seems to change the way your brain works initially.

One example is from a few days after my command line check…As we lined up on the runway and were cleared for takeoff, an ‘ECAM caution’ popped up alerting us there was an issue with a valve in the pneumatic system. It was an issue I’d never seen before, but after a few seconds the alert totally vanished, and the problem appeared to have cleared itself….

We were still finishing our line up onto the runway and whilst also trying to figure out what had happened, the controller informed us there’s an aircraft about to land behind us so we need to start our takeoff roll immediately.

I take a quick look at the pneumatic system on the ECAM system page and ask the FO if he sees anything out of the ordinary, to which he responds no. We then check the ‘Status’ page which would show us if the plane was aware of any issues it had, and that was empty.

I then have a few seconds to make a decision;

1) Do we cancel our takeoff and vacate the runway. We could then run through these systems more thoroughly, try and understand the root cause of what’s happened, whether it was just a computer glitch (which happens often!) or something more sinister. Immediate consequences of this I can already tell will be that the aircraft behind us will be told to ‘go-around’, as our point to vacate is quite far down the runway. That’s a pain for the other crew and also massively increases their workload, bringing risks of its own at the end of their flight (although admittedly that isn’t really our problem). There are also still 8-9 aircraft queuing for takeoff, so if we abort our takeoff and  vacate, we’ll then be sent to the back of that queue. We’ve already burnt more fuel than we wanted waiting for our first takeoff attempt, so we’d likely have to go back to the gate and refuel to have enough to safely get us to our destination. The knock-on effect of this delay to our flight, and that of the next flight for this aircraft and our company could be huge. We already had a long day ahead of us so there’s a chance it could even push us ‘out of hours’ before we’d even left base. I’m aware that some of the above is what we call ‘commercial pressure’ which for me is something that should never compromise safety, but it’s important to understand how it can definitely play a part in decision making.

Or      

2) Do we continue the takeoff and be prepared to stop if the fault comes back, or deal with it in the air? Me & the FO both agree the system looks ok in the systems page, we don’t know the exact cause of the issue however all indications from the engines look good. I know the Airbus is prone to computer glitches and the fact it’s a pneumatic issue means even if it was a genuine problem, it’s highly unlikely to stop the plane flying or affect it’s controllability in the air.

I weigh all the above up, make a decision in my own mind and then ask for thoughts from the FO to see how his line of thinking compares with my own. All of this processing happens in a few seconds. We elect to go with option two. It doesn’t feel ‘unsafe’ to depart and feels like the risks have been weighed against the benefits. Halfway down the runway however as the plane is approaching 100kts, there’s a voice in my head saying ‘Have you done the right thing here? Should we really be departing?’ As we pass the 100kt mark it’s gets louder still ‘Have we just rushed this? Did I let time pressure get to me? Is this right? Am I being stupid here?’ It’s quite an uncomfortable feeling!

Thankfully this flight continued with no further issues.

Similar scenarios happened on several different occasions during my first few months. After each event, I ran through the scenarios with other Captains from various airlines asking for advice and suggestions. The consensus seemed to be that they’d have done the same. Over time this built my confidence and quietened the voice (although still present!). One colleague put it quite nicely – ‘Whatever you choose to do is the right thing in that moment. That’s why you’re trusted to be a Captain. You use your judgement, experience and all the information you have available to you, to make the decision that feels best. That’s all you can do.’

2) People Management

I naively thought Command challenges would involve 50% passenger issues and 50% aircraft technical issues with the occasional crew issue here and there. I was way off……I’d now more accurately put it at 80% crew issues, 10% passenger issues and 10% aircraft issues.

The command course and our biannual sim checks are great at teaching us how to handle technical issues with the aircraft and manage failures. What they don’t prepare you for, is how to handle an 18 year old cabin crew coming into the flightdeck in tears because a passenger has just spoken to her like crap. When you then sit her down and start listening to her, it becomes clear that event was just the tip of the iceberg. Her boyfriend dumped her the day before & ontop of that she is going through family issues at home. She’s also absolutely exhausted from the last few days of delayed, fatiguing duties & which heightens her emotions and is essentially having a breakdown Infront of you.

In my first few weeks I had 2 crew have what I’d describe as emotional breakdowns infront of me. Both times I was the person that had to respond there and then to try and manage the situation. Bear in mind due to the size of our base, these are all people I’ve never met before and know nothing about.

No amount of DODAR or ECAM training is going to help you here. You have to possess people skills to deal with these situations effectively. Whilst I don’t claim mine are superb, I do worry (/know from experience) that other Captains possess absolutely none at all.

I believe there should be a day on every command course where a therapist is brought in to teach Captains the best thing to do in these situations and generally how to deal with people who may be very emotional. We aren’t just there to manage the aircraft, we’re managing 200 people and 5 crew members. There needs to be more focus on people in the command course. The left-hand seat has often felt like I am meant to be playing the role of a therapist. I think tiredness heightened emotions and crew are usually exhausted, so much of it comes out at work and we tend to be the person they come to.

If you’re coming up for command – touch up on people skills. Read books, go to therapy yourself, or maybe even take a course in counselling skills, it could really help you get unstuck one day and improve someone elses situation.

I’ve also learnt it’s necessary to manage expectations when it comes to passengers. For example, if we aren’t given exact times for a delay, I avoid mentioning specific timing. During a particularly hard Summer, we’d often park the aircraft after arriving and there would be nobody to operate the jet bridge to allow passengers to disembark. We’d contact our company who’d say we’re ‘allocated’. This used to mean 5-10 minutes until someone would be there, but I then started having flights where I’d give this time frame to passengers, only to find an hour later we’d still be sat there waiting. Big mistake. Now I don’t give one unless It’s been confirmed.

I also try to keep our passengers as in the loop as I can. If we have a slot, I tell them why. I explain why we’ve boarded the plane, what a ready message is, and what the plan is. If there are 10 aircraft at the runway hold point infront of us when we get there, I’ll touch base with the passengers over the PA and let them know what the hold up is and where we are in the queue. I hate nothing more than being sat on a plane not knowing why we aren’t going anywhere.

If we have a delay where we’ll be on the ground with engines off for more than 20 minutes and we’re all done in the flightdeck, I’ll always make a PA inviting people into the flightdeck to have a sit in my seat, take a look around & kill some time. This seems to instantly change the atmosphere onboard every time and we end up with lots of very grateful and excited children (& adults!)

3) Apologising for issues that aren’t your fault.

This could be base & airline specific, however during my first Summer I seemingly spent almost every day at work apologising to hundreds of people for things that weren’t my fault, nor did I have any control over. It can be seriously tiring and de-moralizing. Our airline specifically tell us not to say sorry or apologise for something that isn’t our fault, but if I’m a fare paying passenger and have been told my flight’s delayed by 2 hours due to an ATC slot which may have ruined my plans that day at destination, do I want to hear an apology? Absolutely!

Pretty much every day in Summer we’ll have an air traffic control restriction delaying our departure. Our aircraft inbound will usually be late which means we’re often sat at the terminal gate with our frustrated passengers, all waiting for the aircraft.

I’m not someone who enjoys public speaking so doing regular PA’s from the front of the cabin and at the departure gate due to extreme delays or issues has added stress for me.

Overall, the first year of command is great. It definitely comes with its own set of challenges, most of which the course sets you up for, some of which it simply cannot (although changes in the course could really help). You’ll have highs, you’ll have lows, but overall, make sure you enjoy it. Life’s short.

Few top tips from my first year

·  Expect to doubt yourself. Confidence will come. Do what feels right to you in the moment, taking all your training and knowledge into consideration.

·  Talk about any challenging scenarios you had with colleagues & other Captains. Ask what they would have done or if they had any other ideas. Be open minded here and don’t take things personally. It may set you up to handle it better next time

·  Develop your people skills. Show empathy to crew members. Listen to them. Treat them like people, not just cabin crew.·  Manage expectations with delays. Don’t overpromise. Make the effort to keep passengers in the loop. Open up the flightdeck if there’s time, it can make someone’s day (& probably gives the FO a welcome break from you! 😊)

If you have any issues or questions, or are coming up for a command course, feel free to reach out to me in the comments below.