Concorde Pilots

[Speedbird744]

I'm interested to know if on Concorde the Captain always handles the takeoff and landing (on each sector) and why doesn't the first officer ever have real control?

[Human Factor]

This from a humble 777 pilot .........

The Rocket is operated in the same manner as any other BA aircraft, although I appreciate some SOPs are necessarily different. In other words, there is no reason why the First Officer should not carry out take-off's and landings (autolands excepted). As far as I'm aware they do.

BA SOPs allow for First Officers to operate sectors as Pilot in Command Under Supervision (PICUS), where the Captain delegates responsibility to the FO to run the sector as the 'de-facto' Captain. This has a number of training benefits. Clearly the Captain still signs for the aeroplane and retains overall responsibility.

[Bellerophon]

Speedbird744

Just like First Officers on all other BA fleets, provided the weather is within their limits, First Officers on Concorde handle around half the take-offs and landings.

Many of them have given up or passed up commands on other BA aircraft in order to sit in the right hand seat of Concorde, and all are licensed, tested and capable of handling the aircraft to P1 standards.

Most irritatingly, many of them do it better! :D

Regards

Bellerophon