On a flight where the First Officer is nominated as the 'Pilot Flying' and the Captain is nominated 'Pilot Not Flying', which one conducts the pre-flight briefing?
At which point does the First Officer take charge of the controls eg; at push-back, at start of take-off roll ?
Just curious.
Phoenix_X
20th Oct 2006, 14:25
As for the briefing, I think it's safe to say that in most (perhaps all) companies, when the FO is PF he will do the briefing.
As for when taking controls, it varies greatly. This depends on aircraft type and company.
In aircraft where there is no tiller (to turn the aircraft during taxiing) on the right-hand side:
As there is no option to have the FO taxi, the captain generally conducts pushback, taxi and line-up onto the runway. Once the aircraft is aligned with the runway controls are handed over to the FO and he sets T/O thrust and conducts the takeoff.
Note that in most companies, once take-off thrust is set, the captain puts his hands back on the thrust levers, as he will take control and stop the aircraft in case of a rejected take-off.
After landing, at some stage during the deceleration the captain will again take back controls and taxi the aircraft off the runway and onto the parking stand.
In aircraft where there is a tiller on the right-hand side:
Some companies will still use the procedure described above, for various reasons.
Other companies, however, will in this case have the FO do everything from pushback, engine start, taxi, line-up, take-off, etc. Again after landing the FO will taxi back in as well.
Even in this case, nearly all companies still have the captain handle the thrust levers during the take-off roll, and it will still be the captain that stops the aircraft in case of rejected take-off.
Why most companies have the captain handle the rejected take-off? Most common reason: It's the one decision that cannot be debated (not enough time) and resulting actions need to be taken as soon as the decision is made. If the FO did the reject, there could be a delay in communicating the decision to him.
Thank you for the detailed explanation. Greatly appreciated.