CRM: A case study

Mobility Forum, Jul/Aug 2003 by Konich, J Norman

It began as an uneventful two day trip on the 737, four legs each day, with the second day itinerary being a first leg into the hub, an "out and back" from and back to the hub and then a deadhead home on the last leg. However, the First Officer was coming down with a cold and by the second day, he was clogged up enough on the first leg to send a message to operations that he needed to be replaced upon our arrival at the hub. Ops responded that they would find a replacement for him and they set him up to deadhead home. According to our contract, "Short Reserve" pilots are supposed to be "located within 90 minutes" of the airport and we had called Ops three hours before the second leg was to depart. Consequently, when that departure time came and went and there was still no replacement First Officer, I called scheduling and was told "He's in the parking lot; it won't be long now." Having been "quick called" myself on a number of occasions, I was acutely aware of all the impediments one can encounter when rushing to the airport: traffic congestion, red lights, just missing the crew bus from the parking lot, etc., and so I made an appropriate announcement to the passengers and then sat back in my cockpit seat and waited.

As I sat there waiting, I contemplated the First Officer's arrival in the context of how I would have arrived: a sweaty individual rushing into the cockpit while profusely apologizing for the delay. That was not the case as my first indication that our First Officer had finally arrived was the flight attendant stating "So there you are!" However, this was not followed by his rushed entry into the cockpit. Instead, he stopped in the galley area and began a rather lengthy discussion with the flight attendants in which he lamented that he was on his last day of availability on reserve and as a commuter to the base, he had planned to be going home about this time. Instead, he had been "bagged" by scheduling to cover this out and back and that would force him to miss the flight he had planned on taking home. He would have to wait till nightfall to take the last flight of the day and that would get him home seven hours later than he had expected. As a former "commuter", I again sympathized with his plight but as you shall see I did not get an immediate opportunity to express much sympathy.

When he finally stopped his dialogue with the flight attendants, he entered the cockpit without saying so much as one word to me or even looking in my direction and he proceeded to stow his flight bag beside his seat. Without getting too mundane here, let me describe what I was confronted with. He was a rather large and intimidating figure and the cockpit of the 737 is not that large, so as he bent over to stow his bag and adjust his seat, he provided me with a very close up view of his backside. This took more than a few seconds and still without a word or glance in my direction, he got into the seat and began a very methodical preflight of his side of the cockpit.

Now let me tell you that I have taught CRM for many years and I have prided myself in "getting along" with everyone that I have flown with. But this rude performance was beginning to get to me. After all, I was the Captain and to not even get a "Hi, how's it goin'?" from this individual had me concerned over what I was facing on the next two legs. I have always attempted to address any potential problems on the ground where there are a lot more options before getting into the air where there are far fewer options available. As he continued with his methodical preflight, my immediate reaction was to begin to be concerned over whether or not this individual was going to be able to function effectively enough to remain on the crew. I had never even come close to replacing a First Officer before, but neither had I ever been confronted with this type of attitude. He was making it perfectly clear that he was not a happy camper to be quick called out and since the company had inconvenienced him, he was in turn going to inconvenience the company and me by taking his sweet time. So as he dilly-dallied along, my blood pressure was slowly increasing and I was vacillating between having him replaced and attempting to salvage the situation.

At this juncture, I would like to ask you the reader to stop reading for a moment and formulate what you would have done had you been in this situation.

The issues that were running through my mind were as follows: If I let him get away with this, I'll have no control over him for the next two legs, so as the Pilot in Command, I need to exercise my authority and say something about his attitude. However, if I do say something to him, since he is already disgruntled, my saying something to him will probably only make him more disgruntled and what will that achieve? Additionally, if I have him removed, it will be a black mark on his record and it will delay an already late flight that much longer.

While I was attempting to come up with a game plan of how to respond to this, fate interceded and provided me with a solution. As he slowly finished his preflight, he eventually got to the paperwork on the center pedestal, which he picked up and perused for an extensive time. When he was finished, his eyes left the paperwork and FINALLY looked at me. At this point I was still debating what my first words to him would be. The paperwork lists me by my first name "John" and as our eyes met, he condescendingly said "And you must be John." His attitude was continuing to come through loud and clear. However, by nature, I hope I'm considered by others to be a somewhat nice person and here is where fate stepped in. Instead of responding with some preconceived speech, to "put him in his place", my natural response took over and I simply extended my right hand and said "I go by Norm." I sensed that he did not expect that kind of cordial response as he shook my hand and told me his name.