Has the aircraft reached Toulouse? Anyone have any idea of how much fuel they burned getting there?
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Edited to add: Jetjock330, your summation of three pilot ops may be true for airlines like SQ, (where with only one captain on board, he must remain in the seat at all times except for short "physiological breaks").
However, in EK, FOs are checked out for cruise PNF duties from the left seat and the captain can leave the cockpit to take his rest - (in the 777, in the roof and about as far from the cockpit as it's possible to be, and not a lot less remote from the cockpit in the 345), leaving the FO occupying the RHS in charge.
The captain MUST in fact take his rest in the very remote location, as he is forbiddden from taking it in an empty seat in Business of First Class, probably because the company would get only 1/3rd the rest taken in credit to extend the flight duty rather than 1/2 the rest time for rest taken in a bunk.
At least one of the FOs took great exception to some captains suggesting that having the only captain on board, (in some non normal situations, almost certainly not able to get back to the cockpit for quite some time if at all), might not be an ideal situation. He felt this was an insult to his and his colleagues' professionalism.
(The FO who made that comment on the company chat site is a captain now. I'd be interested to know whether a year or so in the LHS has changed his then very strongly held opinions on the subject.)
Last edited by MTOW; 21st Jul 2009 at 06:02.