Originally Posted by
NudgingSteel
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You might be surprised at the number of flights which have crew in the jumpseat. I don't want to sound like a mad stalker(!) but we do sometimes check the aircraft out with binoculars as they taxi past the VCR, and there are very often at least 3 crew on the FD..
As you rightly at that can be for a whole load of legit reasons. Couple of examples - on Long Haul if "heavy crew" being carried at least one of those will probably be there and also as long as the cabin is "covered" from a safety POV ( and because of crew compliment that is probably easier on a Long Haul type) then it's not unknown for one or two of cabin crew to be on the flight deck for take-off or landing.