First officer (aviation) - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from First Officer (civil aviation)) Flight crew role "Co-pilot" redirects here. For other uses, see Co-pilot (disambiguation). For the AI software, see Microsoft Copilot.

This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A first officer at the controls of a de Havilland Canada Dash 8 passenger aircraft

In aviation, the first officer (FO), also called co-pilot, is a pilot in addition to the captain, who is the legal commander. In the event of incapacitation of the captain, the first officer will assume command of the aircraft.

Role

Control of the aircraft is normally shared equally between the first officer and the captain, with one pilot normally designated the "pilot flying" and the other the "pilot not flying", or "pilot monitoring", for each flight. Even when the first officer is the flying pilot, however, the captain remains ultimately responsible for the aircraft, its passengers, and the crew. In typical day-to-day operations, the essential job tasks remain fairly equal. Often the first officer will log time as pilot in command under supervision (PICUS), for the purpose of working towards an airline transport pilot licence.

Traditionally, the first officer sits on the right-hand side of a fixed-wing aircraft ("right seat") and the left-hand side of a helicopter (the reason for this difference is related to, in many cases, the pilot flying being unable to release the right hand from the cyclic control to operate the instruments, thus they sit on the right side and do that with the left hand).

On a long haul flight, there may be multiple captains and first officers on board, to act as relief crew. While the captain rests, the senior of first officers sits in the left-hand seat, as for example on Air France Flight 447.

Some airlines have the rank of "junior first officer", for pilots who are not yet fully qualified. Modern airliners require two pilots. When a junior first officer is undergoing training, a safety pilot will sit in the jump seat to monitor the junior first officer and the captain. A junior first officer is sometimes known as a second officer. After a certain number of flight hours and experience, a first officer can be promoted to senior first officer. A senior first officer will typically have at least 1,500 hours flight experience.

Many airlines promote by seniority only within their own company, and seniority takes precedence over experience or skill, so a first officer can only pursue an upgrade to captain only when a slot becomes available, and only when seniority permits them to. If an experienced pilot moves to another airline, they will start at bottom of the category in pay and benefits since seniority is not transferrable. As a consequence, an airline first officer may be older and/or have more flight experience than a captain, by virtue of having experience from other airlines or the military. First officers who have stayed at their airline for a long time having accumulated much seniority often prefer not to seek a promotion to captain. Due to the airline's seniority system, making "the transition from first officer to captain means you’re going from the top of one category to the bottom of another". In other words, being a rookie captain means less choice in assignments which affects lifestyle, while only meriting a small raise over a first officer with lots of seniority.

References

Leone, Dario (2022-04-24). "Airline pilot explains why the co-pilot is more important than the captain on a plane and why he would rather have a good co-pilot than a good #2 engine any day". The Aviation Geek Club. Retrieved 2023-11-11.
"Airline Captain and First Officer Explained / ATP Flight School". atpflightschool.com. Retrieved 2023-11-11.
"Career Progression". Pilot Kaki. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
"How to become a Boeing 737 Ryanair Pilot". JohanAero. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
Secchi, Beatrice (12 November 2021). "Ryanair line training". AFTA graduate blog. AFTA. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
"Airline pilot job profile". www.prospects.ac.uk. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
Page, Charlie. "The path to becoming an airline captain -- how pilots climb the ranks". Retrieved 24 February 2023.
"How are pilots evaluated for raises or promotions?". AskThePilot.com. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

Bibliography

Harris, Tom. How Airline Crews Work, HowStuffWorks.com website, June 14, 2001. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
Smith, Patrick. Patrick Smith's Ask The Pilot: When a Pilot Dies in Flight Archived 2015-05-02 at the Wayback Machine, AskThePilot.com website, 2013, which in turn cites:
Smith, Patrick. Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel: Questions, Answers, and Reflections, Sourcebooks, 2013, ISBN 1402280912, ISBN 978-1402280917.
Flying the World in Clipper Ships at flightjournal.com, 2007.

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Role

See also

References

Bibliography