New upgrade fee opportunity for Ryanair:
+55 Euros for your flight to have a qualified pilot on board
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Layover at Applebees?
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On a flight 2 weeks ago from Jacksonville to Houston (on United), I was on a little 50-seater with one pilot and one attendant. When the pilot needed to use the bathroom, the flight attendant had to go sit in the cockpit until the pilot was done. Thankfully neither of them had any problems, but I was certainly concerned about the lack of a copilot.
If that pilot had a health problem like the one going to Chile, my flight would have become a disaster very quickly
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Was it Chili con Carne?
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This is not possible under current FAA rules. All commercial flights require a minimum of two on-duty pilots during flight. I’ve seen flight attendants sitting in the cockpit while one of the pilots is in the cabin but there is always at least two qualified pilots on board. You must have been mistaken.
Despite the desire of some to develop and deploy reduced-crew or single-pilot systems in airliners, the current U.S. federal aviation regulations (FARs) governing airline operations are clear: At least two pilots must be present on the flight deck of passenger or cargo transport aircraft.
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Really? I was on a small puddle jumper (maybe 12 - 15 seats) flying 200 miles within California in 1990, and there were two pilots in the cockpit. The safety procedures were given by the co-pilot and and since I was the only passenger, he sat right next to me while explaining the procedures. Once he finished, he went back into the cockpit and we took off.
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Maybe. They both shut the door to the cockpit quick enough that I couldn’t see inside when they went in or left, but the pilot definitely called the attendant from the cabin before going to the bathroom and I didn’t see another pilot during boarding or exiting the plane.
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I suppose anything is possible but if true, then it would be serious breach of FAA regulations. I can’t see a major commercial operator taking this kind of risk by knowingly dispatching a passenger flight with less than two pilots.
14 CFR § 121.385 - Composition of flight crew.
(a) No certificate holder may operate an airplane with less than the minimum flight crew in the airworthiness certificate or the airplane Flight Manual approved for that type airplane and required by this part for the kind of operation being conducted.
(b) In any case in which this part requires the performance of two or more functions for which an airman certificate is necessary, that requirement is not satisfied by the performance of multiple functions at the same time by one airman.
(c) The minimum pilot crew is two pilots and the certificate holder shall designate one pilot as pilot in command and the other second in command.
(d) On each flight requiring a flight engineer at least one flight crewmember, other than the flight engineer, must be qualified to provide emergency performance of the flight engineer’s functions for the safe completion of the flight if the flight engineer becomes ill or is otherwise incapacitated. A pilot need not hold a flight engineer’s certificate to perform the flight engineer’s functions in such a situation.
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There are usually 3 qualified pilots on a commercial airline flight:
Pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer are all trained pilots
None of them are allowed to have the fish as an inflight meal at the same time.
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In the spirit of Pro-Business Compromise; how about one pilot and one flight attendant who likes flight sims?
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Do you know how “current” those are? I’m aware of a situation on a small puddle-jumper (Cape Cod to the Vineyard) that suffered pilot incapacitation about 15 years ago and was landed* by a passenger.
- Advised via radio by an aircraft type expert to not lower the gear. Apparently, novices (she had been taking flying lessons, but not many) often “bounce” too much. She put it down on the belly. Everybody walked away.
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That is the current FAR and the minimum crew requirements are based on the airworthiness certificate for the aircraft and operator. From my knowledge, all multi-engine jet aircraft operating in a commercial capacity requires a minimum of two pilots as per 14 CFR §121.385. Small, single-control, propeller commuter aircraft may have different requirements in order to maintain their airworthiness certification.
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That Jaw Toner was supposed to come out in Miami.
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§ 121.387. Flight engineer.
No certificate holder may operate an airplane for which a type certificate was issued before January 2, 1964, having a maximum certificated takeoff weight of more than 80,000 pounds without a flight crewmember holding a current flight engineer certificate. For each airplane type certificated after January 1, 1964, the requirement for a flight engineer is determined under the type certification requirements of § 25.1523.
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According to Wikipedia the last major US Airline to fly any aircraft with a Flight Engineer’s station was Northwest, which retired the last of their 747s back in 2009. Only a few international airlines still use 747s, and LATAM isn’t one of them. With the disappearance of 747s the position pretty much doesn’t exist for civilian flights anymore. It probably won’t be missed, since it mostly involved staring at a boring bank of dials and gauges the whole flight.
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I’m pretty sure it was a twin engine craft, probably one of these:
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