Ah, the old Black over Black Attitude indicator. When I was in Pilot Training in the Air Force, the T-37 had just finished converting to the new colored Attitude indicators. The Older pilots called the “Non-colored Attitude indicators, “The Black Ball of Death”😄

Re “Pilot Monitoring”.

Please write to Mr Boeing and Monsieur Airbus and get them to change their manuals if you find this annoying. It used to be pilot flying (PF) and pilot not flying (PNF) : TLAs used as the norm. PNF changed some time ago to pilot monitoring. I moved from the Boeing to the Airbus in 2014 and had used it on the the 75/76. As a trainer, I changed with the new procedure and made sure everyone else did too.

Me

When did they stop using the term 'Co-Pilot.'..?

I guess the Wide use in the Mainstream Media has something to do .

Even if that happens you will immediately have a clearly audible master caution and an ECAM. Pretty much impossible not to notice the slip.

I cannot understand how anyone can mistake parking brake for flap lever. It doesn't feel the same, moves differently. Though Airbus could easily inhibit it when gear is up.

Around the same time that they removed stewardess and cockpit from the terminology. Perhaps it was felt that these words could be distracting under certain combined circumstances.

I’m not going to comment directly with regards to the sad crash itself, but, the conversation in this thread is something I find very interesting.

There is a lot of talk about the selection of the wrong item and the pilot monitoring (or any other term for the pilot not flying) doing their duties correctly.

It’s something that I have considered and raised a lot over the years. I have often found myself, lets just call it PNF, and on numerous occasions the pilot flying, while I was on the radio talking to ATC or engaged in some other critical task at that point, and I notice them sitting there, pointing to a selection lever be it flaps or undercarriage, and just continuously pointing while looking at me then the lever, then back to me than the lever……..

I tend to ignore them, finish the task I was doing, then ask them, ‘did they want something’ although a lot of the time, as soon as I have finished the transmission, they say straight away “I need the flaps/undercarriage selected”. So I ask if they still want it to which they normally reply “Yes”. So I make a point of looking at the ASI, speaking out loud the air speed is within limits, then verbally announce the selection I’m making, then verbally announce the said selection is actually in transit, then verbally announce the selection has been successful. The bright people soon realise the point I’m making. The others don’t, and want to start a conversation about it. I say we will concentrate on the flight, then discuss afterwards. The amount of people that think it’s ok to just point at something, while the other person is engaged in a task and expect them to just do it amazes me.

If you need it there and then, then do it yourself and bring the other pilot into the loop as soon as they are free. If you can’t manage that yourself, then wait until the other person is free then ask for the selection, so the safety is still there to check and cross check the correct selection is made.

The point is it describes the task the pilot is performing - not one they are not performing

They didn’t. PF and PM describe the roles of the crew members on the particular sector. Capt and co-pilot describes their status in the cockpit.

However, the term 'co-pilot' has generally been replaced by the term 'First Officer', just as the questioner, 'sci-fi' correctly alluded to. They were simply asking when that happened. I didn't see that they needed to be corrected, as they don't appear to be confused about captaincy / FO distinction vs PF / PNF roles on each flight.

To try to answer sci-fi, I believe it was during the 90s and since, however the timing varies considerably by country / culture, I believe, and I am happy to be corrected.

Where I operated never, as said by 212man, maybe operator or particular area of aviation specific, mine was off shore oil industry company.

No matter what is the shape of different levers or the knobs on the FCU/MCP or the different ways they are designed to operate pilots have dialed altitude instead of heading, pressed Exped button instead of APP, selected parking brake instead of flaps and retracted flaps instead of gear. The only reason is as one gets more and more familiar with the cockpit controls pilot start reaching for them unconsciously and action them without identifying first. These are not muscle memory or unconscious actions but see and do items. This needs to be enforced and corrected when noticed otherwise a slip is just round the corner can happen any time.

It might be more professional to discuss it after the flight.

That’s what I said in my post.

In about three decades of airline flying for several airlines, I never worked for one that referred to "co-pilots".

Both pilots were fully rated on the aeroplanes. The Pilot 'in command' was the Captain, the other Pilot was the First Officer.

The Pilot flying that sector was the 'Pilot Flying' (PF), the other Pilot was the 'Pilot not Flying' (PNF). That was later improved to PF and Pilot Monitoring (PM). Yes, if you are that 'twitchy' it might seem to be 'policing', but I never had any problem with that common sense term.

The term "Co-Pilot" does hark back to the very early days of aviation where the 'Pilot' was a 'god' and the 'Co-Pilot' was his lackey. Thank goodness those days are way in the past!

It could be argued that now the PM is the 'Co-Pilot' and the PF is the 'Pilot', meaning that the First Officer could be the 'Pilot' and the Captain could be the 'Co-Pilot'.

The term "co-pilot" is written into our regulations (Oz).

CM1 can be either PF or PM same goes for CM2 ;)

Had the skipper been following SOPs and not flying too slowly and disabled the stick pusher as well, things may have been different. Culture is the number one safety insurance.

Was it established he was the one who disabled the pusher? I agree it seems likely but were both channels separated on the FDR?