“Cap’n 4 Bars,” the blogger behind the Airline Command blog, has stumbled across two old but interesting posts written by Sam, a Captain for a small regional airline based in the Midwest of the USA, on his Blogging At FL250 (rants and reflections from a regional airline pilot) blog. The first post, Good Captain, Bad Captain, was written from the perspective of a First Officer and explains six of his personal criteria to be a Good Captain and details some of the attributes of a Bad Captain; while the second post, Good Captain, Bad Captain Revisited, was written from the point of view of a Captain.
However, “Cap’n 4 Bars” does a great job of summarizing just what it means to be a good Captain, or a good pilot for that matter, when he noted that he liked:
…the way Sam reviews his Command performance, identifies weak areas in his operation and then tries to eliminate them. Once you get your four bars it’s easy to slacken off – nobody is watching or assessing you anymore. Self improvement is the only way you will ever improve as a Captain.
Of course, the same holds true for general aviation pilots. Moreover, “Cap’n 4 Bars” also noted that a First Officer “should be watching, modeling and learning” from their current Captains (like student pilots when they are with their flight instructors) and then “use the good qualities and reject the bad stuff” – another great observation.
Hence and even if you are not an airline pilot, both posts are well worth reading and should “give you some food for thought as you progress towards your own four bars.”