"Heavy" Crews

I know that longer haul services generally carry 3 or 4 pilots, but I read somewhere that is law that the crew who do the take off must also do the landing. Is this true, is so, any idea why??

Thanks

Always thought there were just 2 pilots?

[honey lamb]

Always thought there were just 2 pilots?

Depends on the length of the flight. SFO, LAS and LAX for example, have three pilots. This is a CAA/FAA requirement. There were three pilots on my DUB-SFO, ADD-DUB, LHR-JNB (in both VS and BA) flights.

The two pilots who do the take off also do the landing. The third and sometime court pilots are just used in the cruise to cover while the other pilots have their breaks

[honey lamb]

The two pilots who do the take off also do the landing. The third and sometime court pilots are just used in the cruise to cover while the other pilots have their breaks

Thanks for that VB747. It was I had always suspected as on the info from the flight deck you will often hear that the First Officer is in control of the flight which I assumed would be take off and landing. In one of my flights on EI before the reconfiguration of the J cabin when 4JK was reserved for the pilots (and I must check with Aer John about crew rest since then) the third pilot was already snoozing on take-off before leaving SFO

Two on my recent flights from Manchester to Orlando and return.

When there are two flight crew I've always been under the impression one of them does the flying on the outbound sector and the other does the return. Whoever isn't doing the flying does the checks etc although the captain, of course, always remains in legal command of the aircraft.

It's usually flights of over about 9 hours that will require an extra pilot. And usually one pilot will do the take-off and landing on one sector and the other pilot will do it on the return

Is it still the case that the pilots cannot both have the same meal? (Don't have the fish...!)

It is indeed Kraken! Just in case of food poisoning taking them both out of action... :O

On my last flight back from MCO a few weeks ago, when the captain made the welcome on board announcement he announced there were 4 captains on the flight deck ! Not sure why and he never said, I wondered if it might have been a check flight or similar?

Always thought there were just 2 pilots?

Depends on the length of the flight. SFO, LAS and LAX for example, have three pilots. This is a CAA/FAA requirement. There were three pilots on my DUB-SFO, ADD-DUB, LHR-JNB (in both VS and BA) flights.

You learn something new every day!

(Don't have the fish...!)

Rumack: What was it we had for dinner tonight?
Elaine Dickinson: Well, we had a choice of steak or fish.
Rumack: Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna.

I flew back from Antalya in Turkey to Birmingham at the weekend on Thomas Cook and the captain mentioned that there were three pilots on the flight deck for the flight. Didn't say why though.

He was also the most informative captain I've heard with his little talk after takeoff. He described the route in great detail with every country we would be flying over. He also gave everything in multiple units including distances in nautical miles and standard miles, height in feet and kilometres and speed in mph, knots and percentage of the speed of sound. He even tried a few jokes including how, when we got back over the UK, he would be looking for the M25 before following it round to and up the M1 before taking the M6 to Birmingham.

He was also the most informative captain I've heard with his little talk after takeoff. He described the route in great detail with every country we would be flying over. He also gave everything in multiple units including distances in nautical miles and standard miles, height in feet and kilometres and speed in mph, knots and percentage of the speed of sound. He even tried a few jokes including how, when we got back over the UK, he would be looking for the M25 before following it round to and up the M1 before taking the M6 to Birmingham.

That sounds unusually talkative. Presumably once airborne he was leaving it to the other two to fly the aircraft.

He was also the most informative captain I've heard with his little talk after takeoff. He described the route in great detail with every country we would be flying over. He also gave everything in multiple units including distances in nautical miles and standard miles, height in feet and kilometres and speed in mph, knots and percentage of the speed of sound. He even tried a few jokes including how, when we got back over the UK, he would be looking for the M25 before following it round to and up the M1 before taking the M6 to Birmingham.

That sounds unusually talkative. Presumably once airborne he was leaving it to the other two to fly the aircraft.

Probably letting the plane do the flying. I know the pilots are always in command, but in reality the autopilots do the flying from not long after take off to just before landing.