fantom
14th May 2002, 10:35
touched upon in a nearby thread I offer the following:
1. the C's rhs sim check permits pnf operation only. in order to allow pf operation, a rhs line-check (1 sector pf, 1 pnf) is required.
2. the swapping of seats by Cs is not permitted as there has to be one commander for a whole fdp (technically possible if a trg C flew pf lhs out,say, and rhs pnf back but what would be the point?).
3. bmi are far from the only ones doing this: it allows rostering flex when they run out of FOs.
of course, I might have this all wrong but, if I am correct you had better watch out!!!
:eek:
Max Angle
14th May 2002, 11:36
Good point about the line check, I guess that's why we only operate as PNF from the right seat, trainers of course do a rhs line check.
As far as swapping seats goes, I am not aware of any rule that says that you must have one commander for the whole of an FDP. The ops. manual (which is CAA approved) states that the person who signs the tech. log is the aircraft commander for the duration of the flight regardless of the their rank or seniority in the company.
It does not happen very often (twice last year for me) but I think we all accept that when the other has signed the tech. log he is in charge and your not. It is quite strange after many years in the left seat not to be running the show on these occasions but I don't find it a problem from the CRM point of view. By definintion both the people involved are experienced pilots and you just get on with it. I find that it makes for a very easy day in fact and a good chance to have a yak to another Captain, who I probably know anyway, about life the universe and everything, the company, tech. issues etc.
On thread where this first started someone mentioned the incapacitation case and the fact that as we don't have RHS line check we are not used to flying from that seat. Well this is exactly why we do a RHS sim. check and it really is not a problem, I find adjusting the seat the hardest part to be honest. If it happened on the a/c and the other guy had left his seat due to illness and was not coming back I would be tempted to nip across to the left seat I think but it would not be a problem to land from the right seat if I needed to.
I am quite suprised that more airlines don't do it really, it may be that most airlines are better run on the crewing side of things than us (not hard, believe me!) and don't need the flexibility