Narrative:

We were cleared direct to yosst at 7700' for the RNAV visual to 8R. Prior to hitting yosst we were given a traffic call to follow; when I looked back inside the flight deck the captain; PF; was distracted with his shoulder harness and we were at 7000' outside of yosst; we were 700' low. When I looked away the first time we were on path and had 7700' set in the MCP. Now he had 'V/south' selected and 5500' in the altitude window (I have no idea where that altitude came from or why or when he chose it). I pointed out we were low and needed to climb to 7700'; he started punching various buttons and then aircraft went into cwsp (control wheel steering pitch). I pulled up on the yoke to start a climb; set 7700' in the altitude window; reengaged VNAV and the captain finally re-engaged and took back over flying duties. Once we are on path; I 'coached' him to set zeros. I'm not sure he ever fully understood what happened. He's very difficult to communicate with and this is the second as soon as possible this trip; both times; he was pilot flying. My monitoring skills weren't effectively keeping up. I've been actively engaged with this captain all trip. He's very aloof and says 'yeah; yeah; yeah' constantly; but not sure he actually means yes. I pointed out the arrival page that addressed the RNAV visual. He never once looked at it; but said 'yeah; yeah; yeah' the two times I mentioned it. So I just read it out loud. However; when ATC made traffic calls before giving clearance; he seemed confused at what they were needing; even though we spoke about it and it's clearly written in the page he never read.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: First officer reported communications problems with the captain.

Narrative: We were cleared direct to YOSST at 7700' for the RNAV Visual to 8R. Prior to hitting YOSST we were given a traffic call to follow; when I looked back inside the flight deck the Captain; PF; was distracted with his shoulder harness and we were at 7000' outside of YOSST; we were 700' low. When I looked away the first time we were on path and had 7700' set in the MCP. Now he had 'V/S' selected and 5500' in the altitude window (I have no idea where that altitude came from or why or when he chose it). I pointed out we were low and needed to climb to 7700'; he started punching various buttons and then aircraft went into CWSP (Control Wheel Steering Pitch). I pulled up on the yoke to start a climb; set 7700' in the altitude window; reengaged VNAV and the Captain finally re-engaged and took back over flying duties. Once we are on path; I 'coached' him to set zeros. I'm not sure he ever fully understood what happened. He's very difficult to communicate with and this is the second ASAP this trip; both times; he was Pilot Flying. My monitoring skills weren't effectively keeping up. I've been actively engaged with this Captain all trip. He's very aloof and says 'yeah; yeah; yeah' constantly; but not sure he actually means yes. I pointed out the Arrival page that addressed the RNAV visual. He never once looked at it; but said 'yeah; yeah; yeah' the two times I mentioned it. So I just read it out loud. However; when ATC made traffic calls before giving clearance; he seemed confused at what they were needing; even though we spoke about it and it's clearly written in the page he never read.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.