I've been logging more and more flight hours in the NGX now and loving every minute of it! And as I continue and start to move into the area now of flight emergencies and how to effectively deal with them, a question kept popping up in my mind...

 

How does one rate a good Captain? What are the critieria? I was thinking along those lines because everyone wants a quantifiable measure in order to compare apples to apples and hopefully achieve the requisite measure to yourself be considered a good Captain.

 

I considered on time performance, Skill with manual flight handling, Overall experience concerning flight hours, Competence in dealing with emergencies quickly and effectively, etc etc etc...

 

The funny thing is though none of those categories is easily quantifiable as a single measure of "Goodness" in a Captain or even easily measured at all in a meaningful way in which to compare... until one flight when I was making my calaculations prior to a flight from KSFO to KSEA, (and the reverse, representing the bulk of my flight hours recently) It came to me... Fuel.

 

All other things remaining the same (which is thankfully easy to do in FSX...) What is the absolute least amount of fuel you can use for a repetitive flight where nothing else changes except how you fly the same exact flightplan, and how much fuel you load?

 

I've already made a half dozen flights to Seatlle with each one using a little bit less fuel than the last as I try to (within the time constraint of pushing back at exactly the same timne each day and not arriving late to Seattle) get their soonest using the least. I can arrive early, but not late. That is a stipulation.

 

I've found that now I am really sad that fuel isn't tracked to two significant places past the decimal :) though I now read fuel in straight pounds from the FMC data, as I try to do things like out optimize the optimization flightpaths of the FMC... altering cruise speeds, starting descents at different times, using the speedbrake as little as possible, or idling with nose down pitch to hold airspeed, but still holding to any restrictions of altitude and speed for the several waypoints on the flight plan that call for it... in addition to obvious ones like ground power for as much as possible sparing the APU usage (does the SIM track fuel usage of the APU?

 

I've even taken to shutting down one engine to taxi to the gate arrival (not to take off though :) ) and I wonder if that little bit will be enough to just keep that last tenth from ticking over as I shutdown...

 

I don't know.,.. Is this crazy? :) Of all the readouts on the displays now the one I pay most attention to is the Fuel Flow indicator, God help me...

How do you judge success as a Captain (real life here)?

 

First you have people's lives entrusted to you. If you get them from A to B safely and efficiently, you've done your job. If you can't do that, then I don't think you should be in that seat.

 

Next is leadership. A Captain is a leader to the FO sitting next to you. Leadership is managing the situation and letting the FO voice his opinion is a plus. Who knows, his idea may very well be better than yours. Leave the ego in the car. There are situations that the Captain needs to act on his own mind but crews need to work as a team. The alternative to a smoking hole in the ground is a whole lot better than a Captain that let's his ship get out of control.

 

I'm in the middle of eating a chicken and it's getting cold. I'll shut up now and let other people answer.

 

Keep the blue side up and may the wind be at your back. (Hey new signature...)

How do you judge success as a Captain (real life here)?

 

First you have people's lives entrusted to you. If you get them from A to B safely and efficiently, you've done your job. If you can't do that, then I don't think you should be in that seat.

 

Next is leadership. A Captain is a leader to the FO sitting next to you. Leadership is managing the situation and letting the FO voice his opinion is a plus. Who knows, his idea may very well be better than yours. Leave the ego in the car. There are situations that the Captain needs to act on his own mind but crews need to work as a team. The alternative to a smoking hole in the ground is a whole lot better than a Captain that let's his ship get out of control.

 

I'm in the middle of eating a chicken and it's getting cold. I'll shut up now and let other people answer.

 

Keep the blue side up and may the wind be at your back. (Hey new signature...)

 

No, no :) I realize and recognize that the qualities you outlined are critical to a good Captain in terms of character and being an admirable human being, but I'm talking about a good Captain in FSX PMDG :) and with tongue-firmly-in-cheek, how the board of directors of the airline view you as an asset to the company (with the obvious assumption that you are competent and aren't going to crash :) ) or even slightly endanger the passengers and plane.

 

I suppose since, obviously, you are expected to fly the route with competence and safety in mind, a better question is; How would Captain's "compete" you know, like a leaderboard... Aviators do it with their trap scores for landing on the carrier... If you had two Captains, both of whom had ALL the qualities you listed and then some, and they flew the same route, what measure could you use in order for them to compare themselves to each other in a competitive way?

 

I just think that its an easy measure to track fuel usage over a repetive route, to compare pilots IN FSX, not necessarily in the real world...

I considered on time performance, Skill with manual flight handling, Overall experience concerning flight hours, Competence in dealing with emergencies quickly and effectively, etc etc etc...

 

David

I really like everything you wrote in the entire post. Just want to add, "Safety First".

Flying the airplane efficiently,and saving fuel for the company is a big factor too, especially with the cost of fuel so high now.

 

When I flew the line at Aloha, management kept track of each captains fuel burn on the same segments. If you didn't fly the airplane efficiently, it showed in the numbers and you might end up with a call from the Chief Pilot.

 

JOhn Floyd

I would suggest a slightly different metric. Why not measure how close your plan is to reality? Can you touch down at the time you planned with the fuel you planned? How close can you get, and what will you adjust on your next flight to get closer? 10% is not bad. 5% is pretty good. I would suggest that if you can get with 2% you have it nailed. This is not limited to repeated flights so I thik it is a better overall measure. That said, this is not a measure of how good a pilot or captain you are, only of how good your planning skills are, but since those planing skills are a key part of being a good captain, and to be good, you have to understand all the factors that will affect your flight...

The everyday challenge a Captain is facing with regards completing a single leg is to keep these commandments in S.P.E.C. priority

 

Security (never compromise with this)

Punctuality (passengers perception of the airline hangs on this)

Economy (if possible reduce fuel burn and aircraft down time. Unless safety is an issue be careful where you divert the airplane to as it can be very costly for the airline)

Comfort (if not challenged by any of the above, make sure the passengers have a smooth ride)

 

Any Captain can do that over a couple of legs.

 

You do that for an entire career and it’s fair to call you a “good Captain”

 

You die in an air crash, and the investigation reveals that you did everything by the book; you’re still entitled to be called “good Ex Captain”.

 

An example of a bad Captain is the one who deeply thinks that all that matters is to do a “kiss landing” on arrival, even if it involves getting less runway length for a safe stop. This doesn’t mean that Good Captains never do that, but they will immediately know they are lucky they got away with.

 

Of course this isn’t the whole picture. There are other considerations like teamwork, Leadership etc…

If the virtual passengers are still alive, and the remains of the aircraft do not have to be doused with foam and then cleared up with a bulldozer following a lengthy investigation which involves consulting dental records, then it is a result. :LMAO:

 

Al

any landing you can walk away from.

Next is leadership. A Captain is a leader to the FO sitting next to you.

 

And of the cabin crew, don't forget them!

 

Iain Smith

And of the cabin crew, don't forget them!

 

Iain Smith

 

And the cabin crew. They're important too. Sorry if I offended anyone!

As John wrote, I like your post and thoughts to!

 

Well we All function as one team when we're out flying. :-) And I like being on night stops with the whole crew just relaxing and enjoy the good company. :-) It's no good if the captains thinks he is better than the rest of the crew then it won't stick.

 

Regarding the captaincy, there are also good airmanship, situation awareness, structure. Well that is basic piloting. ;-) But there are many many factors in being a captain.

Rònan if you're reading this, just curious what you do and think what makes you a good captain. I know what I think and not least what we learned to be. And I know what a good FO is.

 

Again safety first, fly the aircraft and never take unnessesery risk. - during flight school we're not just becoming pilots we're becoming captains -to be.

 

 

- sorry for my very weird message here, damn tired, landed a couple of hours ago from Gran Canaria. :-) I hope I made a little sense, lol.

 

Best regards

 

Jakob

Delay the flaps on landing.. do the final config flap and gear at 5 mines.. keep 180kts until 10dme 160 until 4 dme. Do everything you can to not fly level from TOD.

 

Reduced flaps landing if conditions permit.

 

Single engine taxy as you have already stated, if you have a real OFP you should use that for the step climbs not the FMS.