The old FAA regulations standards required 2 pilots and a flight engineer, when the aircraft takeoff weight exceeded 80,000 lbs... Later, of course, the industry produced aircraft designed to be flown by 2 pilots, no required flight engineers. Was the case of 737 and DC9s...
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My idea is that the crew complement should now be based on flight times and duty times. I am not against the 747-400, and now the A-380 designed to be flown by 2 pilots, for flights not exceeding 8 hrs... Our regulations here require 3 pilots (or 2 + F/E) for flights to 12 hrs... in excess of 12 hrs sectors, we require yet an extra pilot... 4 pilots in some of our A-340 routes.
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Think of this... The KC-135 was (and is) flown by 2 pilots, yet a 3rd crewmember is in that cockpit, a flight navigator (not a F/E)... The airlines operated the 707 with 2 pilots and a F/E... although the KC-135 is... a 707...
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The workload on short 1 to 2 hrs-long sectors, with multiple landings, as flown by 737s and MD-80s is extremely high. Our company policy permits operation of 8 hrs flying for 2 pilots, and provided not more than 2 landings are required. If a third landing is required, the flight time limit is reduced to 7 hrs, and further reduced to 6 hrs, if 4 landings are performed, etc...
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I know some of you fly these regional airplanes, sometimes with 6 landings a day, in congested airspace such as in the USA or Europe. Would be curious to see your outstanding performance on your last landing of the evening, in icing conditions, holding above the IAF in turbulence and expecting an approach to "reported" legal weather minumums...
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What is the name of your airline...? Gulag Air Express...?
Happy contrails