Your First Day as a First Officer

[LeadSled204]

Saw a previous thread from a couple of years ago and really wanted to revive the subject. I’m currently sitting at the magic 250 hour mark with no luck of getting any pilot related job as of yet and in the meantime wanted to hear your guys’/girls’ stories on what your first day as a new First Officer went like, even starting from the ground school. Whether it was a multi piston or first time flying turboprops/jets. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced and some tips/tricks that you’d like to share that you could’ve used when you started out. Very interested to hear your story!

[Scuderia]

Be a sponge, absorb anything and everything you can from everyone. Not everything deserves to stick but you want to build a reservoir that you can sieve through later when you have a better grasp on doing this for work.

Don't take anything personally... in one ear and out the other. There will be some skippers whose knowledge you'll add to the aforementioned reservoir but some rubbish you know you can throw out straight away.

Keep a little notebook and write things down as you pick up tips and tricks, mistakes and lessons learned, and even little anecdotes from an interesting day. Strive to not have to be corrected twice. Make a mistake, great - learn from it and apply it moving forward. Writing it down and reviewing it later will help.

[Big Pistons Forever]

One thing I never see talked about but which I believe is relevant is the mental shift required to go from training to be a pilot to actually working as a pilot. Flight schools want to keep you happy so you stay with them. You are the customer, however when you start working your first job your joy at participating in the miracle of flight is of zero interest to your employer. Whether the flight sucked or was great makes no difference as they run a business and you are a tool to operate their assets in the pursuit of profits.

They want low drama, low maintenance employees that do their jobs well, work to when practical, reduce costs, take care of the machinery, and get along with their co-workers. Whiny low timers will not last long, especially in todays job market.

That should not mean accepting unsafe work, on the ground or in the air, but it does mean adding value to the operation. This starts with minimizing the initial training investment in you by being very prepared for your initial training. Then it involves learning fast. As the previous poster said if you are making the same mistake twice that is on you.

Finally one of my pet peeves with the CPL students I trained was the way they were conditioned to treat the airplane as a rental. Trash in the cabin, dirty windshield, needed to be moved for a night parking spot, that was for somebody else to take care of. If that is the way things were in your CPL you need to jettison that mindset ASAP. You never should leave a working machine without tidying the cabin, crossing the seat belts, and cleaning the windshield. If it is dirty and you don't have any other assigned duties, wash it. Treat the airplane like you paid a lot of your own money to buy it.

[Rockie]

Be a sponge, absorb anything and everything you can from everyone. Not everything deserves to stick but you want to build a reservoir that you can sieve through later when you have a better grasp on doing this for work.

Don't take anything personally... in one ear and out the other. There will be some skippers whose knowledge you'll add to the aforementioned reservoir but some rubbish you know you can throw out straight away.

Keep a little notebook and write things down as you pick up tips and tricks, mistakes and lessons learned, and even little anecdotes from an interesting day. Strive to not have to be corrected twice. Make a mistake, great - learn from it and apply it moving forward. Writing it down and reviewing it later will help.

This is excellent advice to which I will only add, keep doing it until the day you stop flying airplanes. The more you know the more you realize how much you still don’t know and you can learn something from everyone, including the crew in the back.

[ayseven]

I would buy lottery tickets.

[bald seagull]

Wear deodorant - especially if you are on a Twin Otter

[rigpiggy]

If somebody offers you gum take it. He may just be friendly, or he may be afraid to tell you " hey dragon breath, brush your teeth" Oh and shower everyday before work.

[co-joe]

My first flight the Captain kept making fun of "you new FOs" because I had to rotate the card of the ADF to figure out my tracking on NDB approaches. He flew them all in fixed card because the planes he learned on didn't have RMIs, or even rotatable card ADFs. It was the parenting equivalent of "when I was your age I walked 10 miles to school barefoot, uphill both ways, into the wind, carrying my 25 lb book bag...."

[ant_321]

My first day the legendary old timer said, “now my boy, you just sit there and watch unless I ask you for something.” And then our first approach was 1200RVR with 30kt winds. If rigpiggy is who I think he is he will be able to guess who my first day was with. Haha

[SpyPilot]

Foghorn Leghorn?

[rigpiggy]

Probably the same guy that was given his "own puck" playing pickup hockey

[Old fella]

Be a sponge, absorb anything and everything you can from everyone. Not everything deserves to stick but you want to build a reservoir that you can sieve through later when you have a better grasp on doing this for work.

Don't take anything personally... in one ear and out the other. There will be some skippers whose knowledge you'll add to the aforementioned reservoir but some rubbish you know you can throw out straight away.

Keep a little notebook and write things down as you pick up tips and tricks, mistakes and lessons learned, and even little anecdotes from an interesting day. Strive to not have to be corrected twice. Make a mistake, great - learn from it and apply it moving forward. Writing it down and reviewing it later will help.

This is excellent advice to which I will only add, keep doing it until the day you stop flying airplanes. The more you know the more you realize how much you still don’t know and you can learn something from everyone, including the crew in the back.

From an older goat who aviation days are well behind him:

As time moves on and you get older, try to remember there will be good times and there will be bad times,there will be good days and there will be not so good days. Just strive to give it your best through it all.

[Julian.B]

Mine was pretty good. The captain that did the line indoc was one of my good friends, so it was a stress free (from a human factors perspective). Having a good captain putting you at ease, showing you the "practical side" of things is very important. Unfortunately, there are a lot of idiots that should never be in the left seat; not because they don't have the flying skills, but they have ZERO human relations skills.

Even the airlines are not exempt. I have flown with plenty of captains that picked on the stupidest things and were very petty. Now that I'm a captain, don't treat my F/Os the way some of my captains treated me. I let them do their thing. As long as they're safe, even if they deviate a bit from SOPs, I let them do it. Of course, within limit.

How else will they learn? As a result, I don't stress the small stuff and I think they like flying with me. I'm at work to have fun, not to prove to a 25 year old how amazing I am as a pilot (which I'm not). I'm good enough to pass all my rides and so far have never had an issue. Those frustrated f*cks that have a shit home life and bring it to work don't belong in the cockpit and make everyone else's life miserable.

I also try to make a point and thank the ground crews for their hard work. I don't think I'm above them. I've seen plenty of captains calling ramp guys "monkeys" or "ramp rats", not to mention the other staff (cleaning staff, agents, etc).

Be a good guy to your coworkers. It goes a long way. I love to bitch sometimes, mostly about how Liberal this country has become and everyone is a sensitive snowflake. I wish we could still bring hotties in the jump seat and talk about boobs without someone getting offended. Those days are gone now.

[rookiepilot]

Ive seen plenty of captains calling ramp guys "monkeys" or "ramp rats", not to mention the other staff (cleaning staff, agents, etc).

That's funny. Actually not. I can't stand people who do this. The arrogance when you still have ...a job. Easily replaceable!

Captains who do this, should keep in mind, people like me who are self employed....could easily see you as just a higher class of monkey.

You're measured by how kind you are, to those you have no reason to be kind to.

[Julian.B]

@rookiepilot,

I have some opiniated posts on this site, but I'll never put down people for just working hard. If anything, I appreciate them, whether they clean the lav or run the airline. What I can't stand is snowflakes and losers that blame others for their failures. It's always "someone else's fault; never their own".