The Flight Crew: Airplane and Airline FAQ

There is no juggling of responsibilities. A captain is qualified as a captain on one specific model of aircraft. The co-pilot is qualified as a co-pilot on one specific model of aircraft, etc. A pilot who flies the Boeing 727 is not automatically qualified to fly the Boeing 737, 747, 757, or 767, even though they are all Boeing aircraft. Likewise, a pilot qualified as a first officer (co-pilot) on the 727 is not qualified to fly as the flight engineer or captain without additional training and FAA licensing. All licensing is seat and aircraft-specific.

PILOT QUALIFICATIONS

First, all cockpit-crew members—captains, first officers, and second officers—are pilots. In the past some airlines employed professional flight engineers who doubled as mechanics. But most have retired, and the need for a mechanic on board has thankfully decreased with the increased reliability of aircraft.

The entry-level position for pilots is the flight engineer’s seat, the third pilot in a three-man cockpit. At minimum, a new hire must be a fully FAA-licensed commercial and instrument pilot. A commercial license means a pilot can fly for hire. An instrument pilot’s license requires the ability to fly with reference to the flight instruments only. (Quite simply, this pilot can fly in clouds, where there is no outside visibility.) Most pilot new hires are extremely experienced, thirty years of age with 2000 hours experience. They often give up aircraft commander or a higher pilot position with the military, or captain positions with the airline-type commuters. Seniority rules dictate the new hire start at the most junior flight position.

After an extensive four- to six-week second-officer course specific to one airplane; written and oral exams; simulator and airplane check rides; a new pilot is licensed to be a flight engineer. Further, to qualify to “fly the line”— meaning engineer an airplane with passengers—a new hire must pass a line check by an FAA-designated check airman who supervises his performance for the first 25 hours in his new position.

Pilots can bid for more senior positions as positions become available through FAA mandatory retirement (which is age sixty) or airline expansion. If a new hire elects transition from second officer on the Boeing 727 to second officer on a Lockheed 1011 or DC-b for example, it’s back to school for another month—more exams, simulator checkrides, and line checks.

Upgrade training is similar to transition training in length and comprehension, except that it means you are changing “seats” on an aircraft, upgrading flight engineer to first officer, or first officer to captain. If you are upgrading from F/E to F/O after passing the FAA-required exam and checkrides, the same 25 hours of supervised flying is required. However, upgrading to captain is more involved.

To be a captain on an airline, you must have an FAA Air Transport Pilot’s License. It can be confusing, because many people refer to airline pilots as commercial pilots when all captains and many co-pilots hold their ATP certificate.

Starting at the beginning, the first license a pilot can earn is a Private Pilot License allowing him to fly passengers, but not fly them for money. To fly for hire you need to qualify for the Commercial Pilots License, most commonly with an Instrument Rating (fly in clouds). Next is the Air Transport Pilots License, requiring a minimum of 1500 hours’ flight experience just to sit for the exams and checkrides. It’s the Ph.D. of aviation.

Most pilots have far more experience than that. With the established carriers, starting as a flight engineer and progressing to co-pilot and then captain can take up to twelve or more years. By then somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 hours have been accumulated—again, much more than the FAA requires.

A nonairline pilot can earn an ATP. Indeed, most corporate and charter pilots have them, though the ATP alone is not enough to captain an air transport. For airplanes weighing more than 12,500 pounds—the size of a commuter and heavier—you need a type rating specific to the airplane. Therefore, to be an airline captain, you need both the ATP license and type rating.

Completing all the required checks is a fairly intensive experience. If you fail, say, on a highly computerized new technology airplane, and then elect to transition back to your old equipment, in most cases you have to re-qualify on the original airplane again. Assuming you pass the written, the company oral, the FAA oral; the simulator checks testing your ability to handle all normal, abnormal, and emergency procedures; the airplane flight check with no passengers, and the 25 hours of supervised flying with passengers; you still only qualify as a High Minimum Captain.

High Minimum Captain is a fancy term for new captain. For the first 300 hours, a new captain is governed by more conservative weather conditions than somebody with more experience, despite whatever experience has been logged in the co-pilot’s seat. A new pilot, then, cannot land in low or dense fog or in certain other significant weather—at least for the first 300 hours. When a captain qualifies for a different airplane, the restrictions are then only 100 hours. These days, computers track crew assignments in order to prevent new captains and new co-pilots from flying together. If such a match-up occurs, it’s their responsibility to notify crew scheduling, which then notifies dispatch, and a crew swap is made.

Every six months pilots are “line checked” for continuing proficiency of normal operating procedures by the FAA or designated check pilot. Also, every six months pilots are “simulator” checked for proficiency in all normal, abnormal, and emergency procedures. Pilots are also required to have medical check-ups every six months by an FAA-approved aero-medical flight surgeon. Failing a physical for any ailment, no matter how minor, means you are “grounded” and cannot fly.

FLIGHT SIMULATORS

The use of full-motion, full-scale flight simulators has greatly improved pilot training. More training can be accomplished in less time and, in some cases, with more realism than in the actual airplane. For example, practicing an engine fire emergency on takeoff is impossible in a real aircraft without damaging the engine. In a flight simulator the computer can be programmed to accurately portray a real engine fire and the resultant flight characteristics caused by the failure of one or more engines. During the emergency, how well the simulator “flies” depends on the emergency action and proficiency of the pilots.

Every conceivable airplane malfunction, including multiple engine failures, hydraulic failures, electrical failures, pressurization failures, landing gear malfunctions, etc. can be practiced over and over to sharpen your skills.

Punch a few more buttons and the instructor can simulate poor weather conditions such as dense fog, ice, snow, turbulence, and even windshear, regardless of the real outside weather.

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS

The requirement is a minimum of one flight attendant for every fifty seats. If there are 175 seats, there must be a minimum of four flight attendants. It doesn’t matter if the plane is empty or full. Most airlines, however, use more flight attendants than the minimum because the airline industry is an extremely service-oriented business.

DO CREWS WORK TOGETHER OFTEN?

Not always. Flight crews generally bid for regular trips and work together for an entire month. However, when one crew member has requalification training, a simulator checkride, vacation, or is sick, a substitution is made, and crew members might be meeting for the first time when they sign in.

PILOT RESTRICTIONS

When crew members sign-in—specifically the captain, co-pilot, and engineer—they are putting their FAA licenses on the line by agreeing that:

1. They are not using medication of any kind. Special FAA aeromedical approval is required to take medication of any sort, including over-the-counter cough suppressant or allergy tablets. Major medication for maladies such as blood pressure would prevent certification in the first place.

2. They have not ingested any alcohol. Until recently it was against the law to drink alcohol less than eight hours before departure. Added to this today is the requirement that, regardless of the time, your body should be alcohol-free to safely fly. If the obvious safety issues and criminal penalties are not enough, the airlines will fire the offender as well as terminate the other flight-crew members for not preventing the abuser from flying. Crew members have been subject to random drug testing since December 1989.

3. They certify that they’ve not gone scuba diving or donated blood within twenty-four hours.

4. Because of the concern of food poisoning within six hours of takeoff, the captain and first officer cannot eat the same meal from the same kitchen.

5. When signing in, pilots are also certifying they are not violating any FAA-mandated fatigue restrictions. Because it can take nearly two hours of work (“duty time”) for every one hour of actual flight time, the Federal Aviation Regulations stipulate for safety that a pilot may not fly more than 30 hours in seven consecutive days, more than 100 hours in a calendar month, and more than 1000 hours in a calendar year. These are flight-time hours, not total on-the-job “duty” hours.

6. Finally, when signing in, crew members must have in possession their FAA license, medical certificate, and their FAA radio-telephone license.

REVIEWING THE WORK OF DISPATCH

With ultimate authority and responsibility for the flight, the pilot in command and the co-pilot begin the process of double-checking dispatch.

First, they pull up all significant weather information, scanning the forecasts, the winds, and surface weather. Then they survey the dispatcher’s preliminary flight plan and check his weather reports, the fuel allotment, the amount of trip fuel and how much hold fuel. The pilot then compares that information with previous experience. Any disagreement, and the pilot can request changes, no questions asked.

PILOT’S FLIGHT KIT

Flight kits—the big, heavy briefcaselike bags pilots carry — contain the Pilot’s Operating Manual, all normal and abnormal procedures, the Pilot’s Reference Manual, charts, diagrams, and descriptions of the individual aircraft sys tem, and the Pilot’s Navigational Charts. These books contain all the published normal and abnormal procedures. When changes are made, charts and information are revised.

The most frequently revised documents are the Jeppesen Navigational Charts (charts made by a private company in Denver, Colorado, with information supplied by the FAA). These contain all routes necessary to fly—from where airport gates are located to the SIDS and STARS. They also publish low and high altitude en route charts, terminal charts, and area charts. Revisions come out every two weeks.

More frequent changes are also delivered in NOTAMS— notices to airmen. Special bulletins about airports, such as new construction or maintenance, and temporary faults with FAA-monitored navigational aids, are highlighted.

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