Exascot .. Totally agree.
I was hired because the pilots Union - BALPA - had negotiated an agreement that there would always be a THIRD pilot on every flight deck, to sit behind the Captain and "watch" - and usually keep ones' mouth shut, unless of course one noticed something out of order, I once prevented a possible wheels-up landing, long story for another time! One was also used to tune beacons, communicate with Company, sort maps and charts etc. leaving the Captain to fly,and the co-pilot to monitor, undistracted by mundane tasks.
The management decided that the third pilot / Second Officer, had little to do in the long Atlantic cruise sector after top of climb, and the navigator had little influence in the take-off and landing phase, so why not combine the two tasks ?
It was decided that rather than train ex-W.W.II navigators to fly, most were approaching retirement anyway, it was more cost effective to employ young pilots as Second Officers ( a grateful taxpayer had taught us to fly via the RAF National Service scheme ) and teach us to navigate, then make the navigators redundant ! (Bean counters at work of course )
Still, the system worked, I and my colleagues spent some time as navigators and virtually trainee pilots, watching and learning, and although I had a commercial licence and type rating I wasn't allowed in the right hand seat for the first 3 years of my flight deck experience, and by then had over 1,000 hours "flight experience" in my logbook. ( I was occasionally allowed to sit in the left hand seat when the Captain went for a toilet break and no Astro navigation duties were required - on the strict understanding that I didn't touch anything !)
We kept our type rating qualifications valid with a 6 monthly check in the simulator, like everyone else, a little difficult when we never actually handled the beast on the line, but we were given a fleet of Chipmunks at Croydon airport to play with on demand, to keep our pilot licences and handling skills current. Eventually we became "proper" co-pilots and were suitably experienced as a result - not a 630 hour junior pilot left on our own, and of course the flight deck door was never locked.
Has the Industry improved on that system ? I doubt it, but the Bean Counters are happy.
Removing the Flt. Eng. from the flight deck was the biggest mistake. I believe that the early 757/767's were built with a F/eng position, but the launch airlines had them re-rigged as a 2 crew machine? Others will doubtless correct me.
Last edited by ExSp33db1rd; 29th Mar 2015 at 08:09.