Originally Posted by
aluminumdriver
For long flights over 8 hours flight time, we are required to have another pilot onboard, sometimes 2 pilots if really long. This "auxiliary" pilot as you call him is one of these two additional pilots onboard. They are type-rated and current in the jet, and they fly part of the trip while the other two pilots take a break and get some rest. If you are correct, it was one of these pilots who did the PA announcement prior to landing. All the pilots are on the flight deck during landing and takeoff.
So during the times the "auxiliary pilot" is covering for the other two, there is only one pilot in the cockpit? How is that legal?
A similar thought occurred to me when one of you posted way upthread about longer flights requiring an extra F/O--when the captain goes on rest, how is it legal for there to only be an F/Os in command of the aircraft? Obviously, if he were qualified as a captain, that's one thing, but if not?
Obviously, it is legal, since it happens (if I'm understanding correctly), but I thought the PIC had to be qualified to, well, be the PIC (and I would assume that means he is qualified as a captain).
Or does the captain legally remain the PIC even when he is sleeping? I'm assuming that the title of PIC transfers to whomever is in charge at a given time. But if the captain technically remains the PIC even when he is on rest, how can he follow FAR 91.3(b) and be responsible for making the decision to deviate from other rules and regulations? By the time he woke up and got from the crew bunk to the cockpit, the plane's either already crashed or the fill-in F/O has already made a decision which could come back to haunt the captain (since he remains responsible...).
Or maybe I'm just
...
Edit: OK, I just reread the initial quote, and I'm guessing that on "shorter" longhauls where there are a total of three pilots on board, one rotates out and two remain in the cockpit, leaving two in the cockpit at all times. But that still leaves my second question of who is responsible when it's the captain's turn to rotate out for some rest...