Originally Posted by
EricVdb
You could argue more pilots mean fresher pilots therefore more safety. The question is, how much more safety and would removing a pilot mean a enormous reduction in that safety?
I guess that fourth is mostly unneeded and it was a leftover from times where better agreements were made, but there must be a limit.
Two pilots working 16 hours might by according the law (just guessing the hours), but three pilots do seem safer in that case.
I think anything over something like 9 hours + requires a third pilot anyway - you'd never get a 2 man crew working 16 hours. They would time out well before that.