Do SIA cadets work as relief pilot initially?

[UlsterPPL]

Hi all,

Just woinder do SIA cadets only work as a relief pilot initially or as MAS will take on the right hand seat and fly the short-haul fleet?

[Thermal Image]

Originally Posted by UlsterPPL

Hi all,
Just woinder do SIA cadets only work as a relief pilot initially or as MAS will take on the right hand seat and fly the short-haul fleet?

SIA cadets DO NOT work as relief pilots or do just short haul flights.

You may be confused about what trainees, whether cadets or second officers (or for that mattter, first officers or captains), are called.

They are called cadets only up to the LJ45 stage.

Once they are sitting in the RHS they are known as Second Officers. Second Officership is just a transitional training phase; nobody is really appointed as a Second Officer any longer than necessary unlike certain other airlines where a Second Officer may actually function as a member of the crew. SIA Second Officers can only sit in the RHS with an instructor sitting in the LHS.

Therefore Second Officers are not "relief pilots" in the strict legal sense of the word. A qualified FO is required to be available to strap himself into the RHS on demand, so that means the FO is usually sitting in the observers seat to satisfy this requirement. Technically.

[UlsterPPL]

Sorry, I didn't mention the words "cadets after graduation from flying school". So actually SIA gives the rank of First Officer to crew members who are not involve in the take-off and landing part of flying while I think some other airlines will call those position second officer or relief pilot or observers. I think the ones selected for short haul fleet are lucky ones who will have more real practise (not SIM) on take off and landing.

[Thermal Image]

Originally Posted by UlsterPPL

Sorry, I didn't mention the words "cadets after graduation from flying school".

When an SIA cadet completes flying school, he goes on to the next stage which is advanced training on the LJ45. He is still a cadet.

After the LJ45 stage, he is posted to (usually) the B777 fleet. He does ground school, simulator training and then he is cleared for line training (ie with fare paying passengers behind him). At this time he is a second officer. Not a cadet.

Originally Posted by UlsterPPL

So actually SIA gives the rank of First Officer to crew members who are not involve in the take-off and landing part of flying while I think some other airlines will call those position second officer or relief pilot or observers.

You either don't understand what a first officer does (whether generally in most airlines, and particularly in SIA); the concepts of pilot flying / pilot not flying or cannot express yourself clearly as to what he/she does.

To say that a first officer is not involved in the take-off and landing phases is completely incorrect. Whether he is the pilot flying or the pilot not flying, in BOTH roles he is very much involved in the take-off and landing phases of flight.

A second officer, in the later stages of his training, is also given the chance to sit and function as a first officer (in training) in the RHS from startup to shutdown. He is given the chance to operate as pilot flying as well as pilot not flying, although the training emphasis is on pilot not flying.

Originally Posted by UlsterPPL

I think the ones selected for short haul fleet are lucky ones who will have more real practise (not SIM) on take off and landing.

There is not really a short haul fleet in SIA. There are only 3 aircraft types in SIA: B777, B747 and A340. While it is correct that almost all of the shorter flights are done by the 777 (but sometimes the 340 may do short flights), the very same 777 fleet also does more than half of SIA's long-haul flights. The 747 does almost purely long haul flights. On your point that those who are rostered for short flights are lucky because they get more handling experience, I agree.

[UlsterPPL]

Hi Thermal Image,

Thanks for the very detailed reply. To conclude this thread, it looks like SIA is giving more hands on opportunities! Many thanks for your information again!