Nafenn wrote:
Zebedee wrote:
I didn't get that impression from the quoted article, but I've certainly gotten that impression from previous reports on previous incidents.
There seems to be this perception that a co-pilot or first officer, whichever term you prefer to use, is a "pilot's assistant" rather than a fully qualified pilot in his or her own right. Yes ultimately the captain is responsible for the aircraft, but the co-pilot is just as capable and just as competent as the guy in the left hand seat...
Bingo... Both the Co-Pilot and the Captain have the EXACT same training as far as flying that specific aircraft goes... granted the captain might have more experience overall, but the Co-Pilot can still well and truley fly!
A Captian has Command of the plane, they have the same flying skills, but over all the Captian for that flight is the person in charge of the aircraft for that segment, it is not uncommon to see 2 Qualified Captians flying the same ship.
Basiclly they do extra stuff like, responsable persons training, to take command if things go wrong.
After all it was the FO that landed that DC when the window flew out, because the captian was on the roof.