Crews & Plane

907

Well-Known Member
I was wondering, for a say a pt121 job, does a first officer usually have the same captain during every flight? Is one constantly with a different person everytime? That goes for the aircraft too. Thanks.
 
Depends. I would say if your airline doesn't have a PBS then if you're a line holder you generally have the same captain all bid. If you're a reserve pilot you probably won't have the same captain from day to day.

If you're airline does have PBS then you may change captains from trip to trip. Usually change airplanes at least once a day, but sometimes keep it all day.
 
I was wondering, for a say a pt121 job, does a first officer usually have the same captain during every flight? Is one constantly with a different person everytime? That goes for the aircraft too. Thanks.

At one contract lift airline you'd have one captain the whole line initially but so much trading would go on before the month started that often times I'd never fly with the captain who originally shared the same line. One month I was quite happy about that since the captain was a name I'd heard a bit too much about already. :p
 
Before getting furloughed I spent my whole year or so at my 121 job on reserve (not much fun btw). Occasionally I would get a 3 or 4 day trip which a line-holder likely dropped or called in sick for or whatever reason, and I would fly with the same Capt for that trip. A lot of times however I would get a couple legs here or there, or some random overnights, which would often be with different crews. So short answer, it really does depend on seniority; when you're junior (reserve) it really does vary, but when you get a line it is pretty typical to have the same Capt for the duration of the trip. Of course the CA could also be reserve, in which case he/she may be switching between flights also.
 
If you're on reserve, it's a total crap shoot. As a CA on reserve, I've had 3 different crews in one day before. Right now, I'm on a 4 day with the same crew the whole time. Lineholders generally have the same crew for a whole trip unless someone swaps out, calls in sick or runs into a 30/7 or other legal issue. Back before PBS, you flew with the same person the whole month, which was either really good or really bad depending on how well you got along.
 
In almost 2 years of being a line holder, I have flown with the same captain for the whole trip (I bid 4 day trips), but have also had 5 different captains and three different FA's in one day. At our base (JFK) there are many captains on reserve, so it would end up being one captain for a leg or two, then he gets pulled off and you get a new one...

With regards to safety and familiarization between crew members, everyone is trained exactly the same, so everyone does things exactly the same (with regard to checklist, procedures, etc.), therefore switching of crew members does not have an effect on safety.

If you get a great CA or FO to fly with for 4 days, it's great! If you get a bad one, you may wind up having a really long 4 day.
 
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