Duites of A first Officer?

[modern monkey]

Hi,

I have an interview coming up for my first flying job as a first officer with a regional turbo-prop airline and am trying to get a decent idea of exactly what the job entails.
Aside from flying the aircraft multi-crew style, what other duties would the fo at such an airline have to perform? Ie, from arriving at the airport in the morning to going home at the end of the day what things apart from flying, (eg check fuel, make captain a cup of tea, check weather etc ) will I have to do if I get the job? What kind of things do you need to do on a turn-around down route?

Cheers

Monkey.

[411A]

When asked this very same question some years ago, a senior Captain replied...

Show up on time, never be late for crew check-in.
Compile data for the flight plan and see to it the FP is filed properly.
When arriving at the aeroplane, see to it that all controls and switches are properly set, and that a copy of the flight plan log is readily available.
When ready to taxi, be sure the area is clear for the Captain, as he finds his glasses mist over from heavy breathing on these occasions.
Copy the ATC clearance correctly and be sure the nav radios are bet properly.
When takeoff clearance received, be sure the right hand is ready on the cabin supercharger disconnect lever, in case an engine fails on rotation or sightly after.
Handle radio communications as necessary.
Realise that, although there are a set of throttles on the RH side of the pedistal, these are normally not for your benefit, but reserved for the flight engineer.
Never ever EVER laugh at the Captains landings, as to do so invites reports to the fleet manager that you are 'no good'.
Do this scenario for two years and find yourself now entrusted with nearly all the takeoffs and landings, as the senior Captain has now become more so, and is usually asleep just after the landing gear is retracted.

[Hufty]

At my airline (regional) the FO normally prints off the weather and prepares and fills in the paperwork (trip report and navlogs). I say normally as it really depends who gets in first - the FOs often get in a bit ahead of time but I fly with some captains who are happy to do it all themselves so I know I can roll in a bit later! The skipper normally checks the weather, discusses it with the FO, makes a fuel decision then briefs the cabin crew on the wx, sector times, loads etc. although I have briefed the cabin crew myself on occasions if the boss is doing something else. The FO then normally arranges the fuel uplift but is depends - most guys see if you're busy and do it themselves if they have the time.

The FO does the cockpit checks for the aircraft's first flight of the day. After that, it is normally divided up as PF / PNF but the FO still updates the trip report and keeps control of all the paperwork that needs to be retained. My company suggests that PNF does the walkaround but if you're setting it up on the turnaround, you will be doing things like setting up the NAV and COM boxes and FMS for the departure, making sure all the knobs and switches are set correctly, checking the fuel uplift etc.

I have only ever worked for one airline so I am sure there are big differences....good luck with the interiew!

[javelin]

Listen, learn, do your job to SOP's and don't take any sh#te from us old w@nkers in the left hand seat :E

Oh - and learn to spell :sad:

[modern monkey]

cheers, might be being dumb, but what exactly is the trip report?

Also, hows about the mass and balance?
Do the guys in operations load the aircraft, fill out a load sheet and then give it to the crew to check and sign, or do the crew have to fill out the loadsheet?

[Hufty]

Trip report or voyage report - not sure what other airlines do but it is just a bit of paper with names of the operating crew, report times, flight times, number of sectors flown etc.....gets faxed to the company so they know what has been going on, reasons for any delays etc.

Most places, the dispatcher will prepare the loadsheet for you electronically, but sometimes we have to do one ourselves if we are somewhere where they don't have the same system (well the FO does it!)