multi-crew military jets

STS-41B

Well-Known Member
In the military, on aircraft like the B-1 Bomber, C-5, 17, etc etc... do they swap who's "leg" it is to fly, like the airlines do??? Or does the captain tend to fly more legs??

Also, what path do B-1 pilots generally take to get there?? Fighter pilot first, or is that a separate path? I'm too old to go in... just curious; that's one amazing airplane.
 
In the military, on aircraft like the B-1 Bomber, C-5, 17, etc etc... do they swap who's "leg" it is to fly, like the airlines do??? Or does the captain tend to fly more legs??

Also, what path do B-1 pilots generally take to get there?? Fighter pilot first, or is that a separate path? I'm too old to go in... just curious; that's one amazing airplane.

B-1s are available as first assignment from pilot training. Bomber is it’s own community, as is fighter, transport/tanker, helicopter, etc.

How the jet is flown by the front enders is generally up to the Aircraft Commander, but most all ACs exist to help develop their co-pilots, so there’s often the standard pilot flying /pilot monitoring roles going on.

What’s interesting is not necessarily the CRM between the two front end crew, but the CRM between the pilots up front, and the OSO/DSO (CSO, they call them now) Navigator-rated crew in the back, with regards to flying the airplane.
 
I noticed while I was enlisted in the Navy that the Aircraft Commander didn’t always sit in the left seat. I could be mistaken, but the pilot flying sat in the left seat whether that was the aircraft commander or not. While deployed even before the JO’s had their command, they’d leave in the right seat and come back from the boat in the left, or vise versa
 
In the KC135, it depends on the crew. Often enough sorties are 'halved' meaning AC will do the first half and the Co will do the second, but training sorties can vary widely depending on how many need currency items, requirements, proficiency, etc.

In my personal experience as the Co you're going to be doing a majority of the primary flying. In real world sorties most half it out, unless you fly with airline guys who like the whole leg mentality.

For example, real world, the AC and I worked out my leg left seat, my leg right seat, then his leg.
 
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