BlueEagle:
>>Lithgow - The reason for not providing a cabin seat for a three pilot crew has got nothing at all to do with your deemed worth as a F/O compared to a captain so I suggest you get that very silly chip off your shoulder immediately.
You therefore assume that I am an F/O and that I have "very silly chip" on my shoulder. Tsk, tsk, jumping to conclusions? May I not sympathise with my colleagues who are F/O's? Wrong conclusion, BlueEagle. I shan't say that you must therefore be a captain to have an opposite reaction. Mine is not an "F/O vs Captain" stance, it is "crew vs management".
>>The reason is that on a three pilot, (1 capt, 2 F/O), crew your are all expected to be on the flight deck ALL THE TIME except when using the toilets, you are not even allowed to use the bunks on a three pilot crew, much less go back and sit in the cabin!
The idea of a three pilot crew is to extend the FDP beyond that which is maximum for two crew, nothing else.
In practice the two F/O's usually get to split the rest but that is a non SOP, private arrangement and doesnt apply to each and every crew either.
May I reproduce verbatim the following sections from the Flight Administration Manual:
MEALS AND REFRESHMENTS
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Consumption Of Meals
Crew should normally have their meals in the flight deck. However, on Augmented or Double Crew sectors where passenger seats are blocked off for such crew, crew may have their meals in these seats during their rest period.
On flights where the crew complement is 3 or more pilots and no seats are blocked off for crew in the passenger cabin, crew may have their meals in the passenger cabin provided the adjacent seats are unoccupied.
When having their meals in the passenger cabin, crew should always be mindful of the need to preserve the appropriate ambience and quiet in the cabin.
If the instructions state that: "On flights where the crew complement is 3 or more pilots and no seats are blocked off for crew in the passenger cabin, crew may have their meals in the passenger cabin provided the adjacent seats are unoccupied", then it must mean that not all 3 pilots must be in the cockpit "ALL THE TIME" (as you put it) except when in the toilet or when doing wing inspections etc.
Also:
COCKPIT SEATING
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Operating Crew
For takeoff and landing, the required operating crew members of the minimum crew complement shall be in their assigned seats. In all other phases of flight, both pilots' seats must be manned by the operating crew except when:-
.1 a crew member's absence is necessary for the performance of duties in connection with the operation of the flight; or
.2 a crew member's absence is in connection with physiological needs.
When a flight is scheduled with a 3-pilot, augmented or double crew, all crew members should normally be in the cockpit for takeoff and landing to provide additional monitoring. The Commander may allow the crew additional to the minimum crew complement to occupy the seat(s) blocked for crew rest or, where such seat(s) are not provided for, unoccupied seat(s) in the cabin.
Again, the instructions do not state that in a 3-pilot operation all 3 must be in the cockpit "ALL THE TIME". The 3 pilots must be in the cockpit for takeoff and landing, but not necessarily so for other phases of flight. It even states that the extra pilots may sit in the cabin with the Commander's discretion.
So, having seen the official position, if in a 3-pilot operation, the third pilot (an F/O) may sit in the cabin (when not required), just as in an augmented operation where the third pilot (a Captain) may sit in the cabin, are you still in a position to say why the F/O does not deserve a seat blocked off?
You are otherwise correct that the official stand is that we are not to use the bunks on a 3-pilot crew.
>>I totally agree with all the other points in your post.
Thank you.
I hope I did not offend you by stating the facts. I did not mean to do so. Please feel free to produce facts to correct me.
Happy landings.