Originally Posted by
springbok449
Was he actually a Flight Engineer or a Second Officer operating the panel, it was fairly common in SAA that Second Officers operated the panel in lieu of Flight Emgineers on the 747-200, 747-300 and SP prior to becoming First Officers....
in our system, a "Second Officer" held a pilot's licence
as well as a flight engineer licence, and flew the panel, it's where all the pilots joining the airline started until they had the seniority to upgrade to "First Officer", some carriers employed "PFE"s (Professional Flight Engineers), who either held only a Flight Engineer ticket, or at some point were unsuccessful at moving up to the right seat