Mad jock Logan air used to have Pilots Assistants in the right seat, all they needed was a PPL what did they log????? Tunnocks carmel I bet
Canadians dont seem to understand the PIC/US thing I think, But the system is very very good, an F/O working for a good airline there logs PIC/US when its his leg, and he does all aspects of the captains job...engine start,taxi,reject,logbook etc etc. Of coarse, the captain can overrule him, but not just cos he prefers a different style of operating...it stops the micro manager type captain.....this is a CRM thing, where the idea is to reduce the command slope, After so many crashes due, in part, to autocratic captains, CRM became a very important issue. If you were a F.O. for virgin atlantic, you may never see the chance to upgrade, so it gives you a much higher job satisfaction level.
I work in canada now after having used this system.....and we are still in the dark in a lot of ways in canada.....