I guess that was in the days of "The Captain is God" scenario.
This is more reason to have the co-pilot.
A Captain may be more experienced and his skills far outway the co-pilots but guess who the co-pilot learns from.
If a co-pilot is instructed properly and is always there watching the Captains moves he can perform the same procedures and land a plane just as well in time. Procedures and checks are done by two to cross check.
As with some posts we got into previous flights that had gone wrong as the Tenerife disaster being the most relevant as within events of an incapacitation. (A Captain falls ill or dies in flight)
Were getting into a larger plane standard here which maybe separates it into class and rating type of A/C so this might be reason to follow CAR's. I think A320/B737 class and above is self-explanatory.
Then we get into the Regional-Commuter class. 19 passengers = 2 pilots period/ 20+ 2 pilot + 1 flt attendant
If a passenger becomes ill or the situation warrants it somebody has to tend to it. Then the 2 pilot scenario fall into one of safety again, but still based on the checklist system. You have passengers on board. Insurance Liability! Turbine class!
Then we have commuter/charter class.
Small Jet/Medium Twin/High performance single. Passengers/ Medevac is still a liability issue. I think the magic number here is nine? Some operators fill the 10th seat which end up being the co-pilot seat. I believe this practice to be wrong if not illegal. There will be arguments of W&B issues or costs.
Also if the A/C is a Reciprocating vs a Turbine.
An incident occurred on a Air Taxi(maybe you can guess) where a co-pilot stepped out of his seat to give it to a passenger that eventually led to an accident. Was it the PIC's fault/ The Co-Pilot? Does it matter?
A lot or resort flying uses the co-pilot seat for flying a passenger. With a proper briefing all should go well.
A well trained pilot may be the answer but it leaves a shadow of doubt to the passenger inadvertently touching something. "A big Luis Vutton purse becomes a huge weapon in the cockpit"
Finally a small twin and single where the nature of the "busyness", few passengers, length of flight and insurance liability become less, a single pilot with enough hrs on type becomes reliable and the responsibility of the operator to determine as long as he's not breaking any laws.
A pilot on a forum I read yesterday had been hired by a regional carrier that flies Turbo-Props. I can't say which or it will give it away. The Co-pilot didn't know what his conditioning lever was for. He flew King Airs previously and was familiar I guess with the Conditioning lever and prop governor control lever. He mentioned his Captain did not explain it properly or didn't have time and mentioned he just sits there and acts like a dummy while the Captain flies the plane.
WTF?
1) Not enough Ground School and SIM time?
2) Two Pilot flying? Why does this breakdown occur?
3) Airline cutting costs? PPC? PCC?
Why is this happening in our industry.
I read that another pilot was not able to indentify what a A320 looks like.
Good thing he's not in the military!
