Originally Posted by
LarryJ
Yes. The airline confirmed that there were three pilots assigned to duty in the flight deck. A Captain and two First Officers. This is very common in China. They train low-time pilots by having them observe from the jumpseat for many hundreds of hours before being promoted to a control seat.
Thanks. That does seem to make pilot sabotage a less likely explanation. Still possible, though.
Any guess on what their procedures are when one of the pilots at the controls leaves the cockpit? Leave that seat empty, have the third pilot move to the controls, or put a flight attendant in that seat?