Preparing for Command
When the Command Course actually starts, there is no ‘warm-up’. You are expected to be the captain; from day one.
Command doesn’t start and stop at the aircraft. It begins long before arriving at the crewroom or aircraft, and ends long after you leave the aircraft.
When to Start:
Nobody will force you to prepare for command; you must accept responsibility for your own command preparation.
How to prepare:
Essentially, there are several ways to prepare for your Command course:
- Monitor the day-to-day activities of the Captains on your flights. What worked well? What didn’t? Ask questions.
- Read as broad a range of aviation and command-related publications as you can.
- Study ASRs, incident and accident reports, and decide what you might have done differently. How would you have broken the chain?
- Read you old training reports. Is there a common theme that has been highlighted? Is there one aspect where you often don’t score as highly as the other categories?
- Choose role models you aspire to emulate.
- Talk to friends and colleagues who have recently completed their Command Course to get an idea of what it was like. But, be wary when discussing scenarios. One person’s perception and mental model will be different to the next. Scenarios are dynamic and there is no such thing as a standard answer to a standard problem – it often depends.