Captain training 2

Do we have all the skills to be a captain? What are our qualities for this? This second stage of the training gives us an awareness of our near future and leads us to question ourselves. We had courses on air law, customer performance and flight safety, also on less technical areas such as leadership, communication, and self-confidence. We are a class of 10 pilots, half of whom will go on Airbus A220 and half on Boeing 737.

This is an opportunity to go back to our manuals and take a fresh look at them. Soon we will be responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft, our passengers, the crew and cargo. We will also be responsible for the commercial mission, i.e. punctuality, regularity, comfort, and, guess what, wearing the uniform! That's a lot of hats to wear, isn't it ? But that's not all, we will also be the authority on board. The Captain must, if necessary, give orders to ensure safety, to disembark a person or a load that represents a danger.

The job also involves tasks that require the ability to manage priorities. We will need to ensure that the pre-flight inspection has been carried out and that the Aircraft Technical Logbook has been completed and signed. In addition, we will need to ensure that all the safety equipment, oxygen, oil and fuel required for the flight are on board. Of course, we must respect the operational limitations and of the weather accessibility of our destination and alternate airfields... This summarises on paper the main axes of the function : responsibility, authority and tasks. In the end, quite familiar to any pilot carrying out his duties, from a single-pilot aircraft to a Boeing 777.

In fact, as mentioned in the introduction, we need to question ourselves to improve. Have I measured my role? Have I measured whether I will be able to do it? By finding the answers, we can now know which area we need to work on the most. Indeed, from a technical point of view, after 7000 hours of flying, we will know how to learn a new aircraft, but we will have less time to work on ourselves. Because from now on, when everything goes well, as when it goes badly, all eyes will be on us. But what do the passengers expect from us? And you, what do you expect from your captain when you go on a trip? (Expert, leader, exemplary, attentive, courageous, vigilant, serious, present, human?)

To dig deeper into the subject we had two days of training on leadership and communication. Questioning, listening, emotional intelligence, are all notions that I had vaguely heard of until now but which, through this course, become tools for our future. When you have difficult choices to make in your life, you have several options : ask the opinion of others, which is what the commander does with his co-pilot. Or you can take the time to make the decision, to learn about it, which is sometimes more difficult at 900 km/h. But while a large part of public opinion thinks that we are resilient, unemotional beings, it is quite the opposite. The advantage we have is to work on our self-knowledge, we must know how to listen to ourselves and take a step back.

Emotions, from the Latin "Movere" which means to move, are impulses that make us act. Joy, fear, anger, sadness, these 4 basic emotions do not always find a place in a cockpit. In reality, it is about emotional intelligence that we learn. The set of emotional and social skills that are specific to us and that influence the way we express ourselves and make decisions. Let's take again, with the facets of emotional intelligence, the case of a relatively important breakdown during a cruise, which although mastered requires a diversion.

Stress management : This breakdown has generated stress, which is normal and gives me the adrenaline to manage the situation. Have a tolerance for stress without it becoming harmful and look at the bright side. We are in control of the situation. Decision-making : controlling our impulses, having the ability to resist any temptation to act quickly. There's a field right below us, it's tempting to go there but no, I'll have to check the weather and its runway length and maybe consider other solutions. Human relations : ability to identify and take into account the emotions of others. My crew must be confused, as soon as time permits I will explain. Passengers may be afraid, I must reassure them as soon as possible. Individual expression: we must be able to express our thoughts and opinions on the situation while remaining in control of ourselves. My co-pilot doesn't agree with my decision, he has to tell me.

We then had two days of analysis on events that have occurred in the past. This was an opportunity to tackle the real difficulty of the captain's job : decision-making in grey areas. Indeed, if all the work was done in white or black areas, with a procedure or a checklist to be applied, then the job would be simple, and we would have already been replaced by machines. In reality, the captain's work will begin where there is no pre-established response to the situation encountered. What we have to remember is that apart from our technical skills, we are not conditioned. We have to be able to contribute to the management of the passengers, the flight, the crew... A stone that will result in large part from our experience. This is the time to show who we are.

We'll continue in the next episode, with the return to the company at Transavia and the 737 technical qualification planned for August. Be well!