co-pilots

The FAA will increase co-pilot training but propose minimum experience requirements for new co-pilots substantially below the levels sought by Congress.

What's News: World-Wide 2011

The FAA's plan doesn't go as far as Congress advocated in July 2010, when it called for 1,500 hours of flying experience as an across-the-board safety minimum for all commercial pilots, including co-pilots.

FAA to Boost Co-Pilot Training Andy Pasztor 2011

The group's recommendations included a flexible, sliding scale that would offer prospective co-pilots the chance to supplement their flight hours with a college degree, special jet-training courses and other proof of enhanced aeronautical knowledge.

FAA to Boost Co-Pilot Training Andy Pasztor 2011

The goal is to improve the knowledge and caliber of newly hired co-pilots, partly by giving extra flight-time credits to civilian job-seekers who graduate from four-year academic institutions or other advanced-training programs in which they study such things as aeronautics and airmanship.

FAA to Boost Co-Pilot Training Andy Pasztor 2011

The Federal Aviation Administration is about to propose a minimum experience requirement for airline co-pilots that is substantially higher than current mandates but considerably below the level sought by Congress, according to industry officials and others familiar with the details.

FAA to Boost Co-Pilot Training Andy Pasztor 2011

Currently, the FAA requires only captains to have such "type ratings" covering their knowledge of specific models, though many airlines also require co-pilots to pass the same tests.

FAA to Boost Co-Pilot Training Andy Pasztor 2011

Four hours into the flight, the captain went to take a nap, leaving the flying of the plane to the more junior of the co-pilots, Pierre-Cédric Bonin.

How Panic Doomed Air France Flight 447 2011

Air France 447 was operating with three pilots: a captain, who was the most senior crewmember, and two co-pilots.

How Panic Doomed Air France Flight 447 2011

Over at Popular Mechanics I've got a long piece offering a detailed blow-by-blow account of how one of the co-pilots of the Air France jetliner managed, in the course of just five minutes, to take a perfectly operational airplane from an altitude of nearly seven miles down to impact with the ocean.

How Panic Doomed Air France Flight 447 2011

The FAA's plan, which follows in broad outline the recommendations of an industry-labor group, would require most co-pilots to have at least 700 or so hours of experience flying smaller aircraft before they would be permitted to fly airliners, according to people familiar with the proposal.

FAA to Boost Co-Pilot Training Andy Pasztor 2011