Prepare Yourself

It is a sad state of affairs that I was forced to rack my brain to come up with the password to gain access to my own blog...

Yesterday, my employer subjected me to an FAA required "Duties and Responsibilities" class. The purpose of this class was to prepare me to be an airline captain. The class was a monumental waste of time, as it concerned almost exclusively the proper completion of paperwork, as well as several warnings not to say anything to anyone that might be considered offensive. Yes, our overly litigious society rears it's ugly head once more...

It occurs to me today that only one time yesterday was the nature of my future responsibility addressed. It also occurs to me how silly that is.

Come May, American Eagle Airlines will begin handing me a 65 million dollar airplane, hopefully full of 65 passengers. They will issue me no small amount of paperwork, and I will proceed to take the aircraft and its contents into the skies in search of some place too far away to drive to. To my right will be a first officer. He (or she) will most likely assume that since I am Captain I know everything, and make no mistakes. That will be a poor assumption on his part.

For the past seven years I have sat at the controls of some regional jet or another, looked to my left, and seen the person in command of the aircraft. Soon, I will look to my left only to see my own reflection in the cockpit side window. The pilot to my right and the two flight attendants and 65 passengers behind me will trust me to be able to handle any situation, make the right decision, and deliver them safely to their destination.

The gravity of this situation struck me today. I must prepare diligently if I am to justify the trust of the people aboard my aircraft. Long ago I promised myself that every person who boarded my airplane would deplane safely. I no longer share that self-imposed commitment with the person on my left.

As the FAA states the situation:

"The Pilot in Command is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to the operation of that aircraft."