Originally Posted by
Airbubba
Is three pilots normal for AMS-JFK this time of year? I've seen some airlines add a third pilot westbound for winter winds and operate with two at other times of the year.
And, I've jumpseated on a United B-744 back in the glory days before Y2K where they operated ORD-NRT with four pilots. The fourth pilot was put on to 'plot' from what the captain told me.
Also, the guy on the radio in KLM 623 sounded kinda like a gringo to me. I ran into an American KLM pilot years ago in SEL (before ICN opened). I believe he was with TWA and said KLM picked up a few of his former colleagues as well.
Normal ops throughout the year, ams-jfk, is two pilots. Exceptions are training or checking. In this case no checking as new crew was flown in from Jfk.