Reading all that advice made my head reel. And I thought of all those RAF wartime pilots flying Lancasters aand other heavy bombers single pilot with most less than 700 flying hours in their log books.
Then there was a British 737 operator where the chief pilot promoted one of his first officers after three years of service with the airline. The first officer was a former RAF Victor pilot. The check flights were over three days of around four sectors each day into European and Middle Eastern holiday resorts.
Asked about command training in the lead up to the check flights, the chief pilot, a former Royal Navy pilot, said that if after three years of flying with this particular first officer he still didn't know if he was suitable for a command, then he shouldn't be holding the job of chief pilot.
In any case, (he said) the only handling he needed was how to fly from the left seat and operate the nosewheel steering from that seat. I thought that was a pragmatic and quite refreshing attitiude to up-grading.
Last edited by Centaurus; 12th May 2013 at 12:43.