fohnwind, I'm hoping your post is more tongue in cheek than what you believe. As a co-pilot, under certain circumstances you are able to log p1-us whereby you agree with the commander (captain) before the flight, that you will be leading the flight. You make all decisions, which the captain has to agree with, from flight commencement until shutdown. If at any time you have to be over-ruled then that flight is no longer P1-US (pilot in command under supervision) as you havent proved you can act as pilot in command.
As for flying in a straight line only with autopilot on? Really? I don't remember it being that easy all of the time. Yes there are sectors which are straight and level but people who havent flown offshore havent seen some of the things required, similarly offshore pilots may not have experienced the pressures of onshore flying. I would love to see some of the onshore boys fly a night ARA, two crew, to minima and then hand over control to a (god forbid) 'waste of time' co-pilot, to land on a tiny NUI (small unmanned rig) in the middle of winter, North Sea. It has actually been done a few times that I know of. ( I aso know of an ex-offshore guy who got a capatains position with another offshore company, by saying he had over 2500 P1-US hours, when in fact, he'd actually nowhere near that many as he'd literally counted every hour he did as a P1-US hour regardless of who he flew with. ) I'm certain he won't be the first, or the last.
It's horses for courses. The thought of landing in an unlit site onshore, at night for a VIP, under pressure to get the job done, wouldn't exactly fill me with joy.
Some onshore companies say they fly two crew, but believe me, from what i've been told, and experienced, they have a lot to learn.
Single pilot, fine. Proper multi crew with disciplined procedures, both pilots holding ATPL (not that that really matters)
Just purely out of interest, what is your background for flying? Do you hold an atpl? offshore? onshore? corporate? HEMS, or are you an R22 jockey? ;
ps whats wrong with being an average co-pilot anyway? It pays the bills
