On Dec 19, 3:43 pm, john smith wrote:

Maybe there is a new thread, do spouses that fly together use a
challenge and response type of CRM when they fly together?
What type of resolution do they use?
If either one or the other expresses a concern, do they land and sort it
out?
Does one or the other have overriding veto?

My husband and I have flown together over 1000hrs in the last 5
years. The copilot typically handles avionic setup, communications,
serves as safety pilot and tries his/her best not to touch the control.
We do get in each other nerves sometimes when trying to be too
helpful. We read John & Martha King's article on flying together few
months ago and had tried their 'captain' system but found that it was a
bit too formal and rigid. The article did help us to try to express
the copilot's observations more matter-of-factly. We also try to wait
until the plane had stopped to go over the flight with the PIC starting
first. These techniques must have helped because we are still married
and still fly together ;-)

Flying together has many benefits but having another pilot to consult
with not always makes one fly safer. In one instance, I was somewhat
leery about landing at a strange airport with a short runway and tall
trees at both ends. Rick told me that we had landed at similar
airports many times before so there was no reason to pick another
airport 10 miles away from our destination. When we got there, it was
extremely gusty with strong crosswind and the trees seemed much taller
than airnav report. My attempt at short-field landing failed. I had to
do a 'Hail Mary' go around barely clearing the tree tops. In looking
back, it was really stupid of us trying to land inside a tiny
tree-lined bowl that day when there were acres and acres of flat
farmland and many airports with huge runways and nary a tree all
nearby. In another instance, Rick was flying, and I was the
time-keeper and gauge watcher. I told Rick several times that the fuel
gauges were low and we should land for refueling. He was concentrating
on navigating through several Charlie airspaces and just mumbled "Ok,
ok" then said "I will land once we are out of the busy areas".
Seeing that he was tired and somewhat irritated, I stopped nagging and
nervously looking for nearby airports! I had the tank topped off
when we landed eventually and was horrified to learn that we had only 5
gallons of fuel left. This 45-minute of fuel put us over the 30-minute
VFR requirement but scared the heck out of us. After these incidents,
we agree that the more conservative pilot is the one with the
overriding veto. By the way, I am not always the conservative pilot
;-)

Hai Longworth