698jet

WOW great topic. I used to work for a company that the GOM said the f/o must only fly from the right seat and the capt from the left. I felt bad for my f/o but if something happen and god for bid the f/o was in the left seat that's my job on the line. Most all my f/o's had no problem with that as long as I let them fly. I never cared if it was a live leg or not, they always got to fly. One thing I do know a lot of companies do say f/o's only fly from the right seat unless they are flying with a check airmen or chief pilot. Most f/o's know this yet most still ask can they fly from the left seat. I'm sure some capt's let them fly from the left when they think they can get away with it that's cool too. It's just one of these pilot things that can get you up a creek if the wrong person at a company found out and they had nothing better to do then start crap.

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cgtpilot

I don't get it. What difference does it make which side of the jet your sitting on? Other than moving the tiller to steer on the ground? The Captain signs for the airplane and sits on the left and the F/O doesn't sign for it and sits on the right. I log SIC for sitting on the right side and the CA logs PIC for sitting on the left side. At the airlines, I fly one leg and the other guy flies the next or some other iteration we can come up with. What am I missing???

taylorjets

Everything...

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Never stop defending Brooklyn...

TPROP4ever

Oh whats the use, you can always find one arrogant guy on a flightdeck somewhere....

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Turbine Maule on floats..now thats a "Wet" Dream...

KIGONYE

i wish i had a guy/gal in the right seat. i would let him/her fly all the legs

cgtpilot

Please explain then...121 flying is very simple, why make it any harder with all this nonsense of swapping seats? Who is in command left or right seater? What happens if your "SIC" is sitting in the left seat and the bells start sounding? Is he typed in the aircraft? Did he "sign" for the airplane or whatever terminology you bizjet guys use? Again what am I missing?

TPROP4ever

I thought he was with Spirit, not a corporate guy.

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Turbine Maule on floats..now thats a "Wet" Dream...

GauleyPilot

I don't know about this guy's situation, but it could be a co-captian operation, and the junior capt. never gets to fly. That happens in the corp. world. He never said he was SIC only did he? In this situation, it is customary for the capt. flying to sit in the left seat.

Perhaps it is a certified single pilot airplane , and no SIC time can be logged even though it is flown by a crew. ie King Air 200 or 350. Switch legs, seats, and flightplan info.

cgtpilot

Why would anyone want to sling gear as a "co-captain" and never touch the jet? I guess I would for major 121 "co-captain" rates but why put up with that sort of crap? Much less flying for free in a single pilot turboprop....pilots are their own worst enemies not management.

GauleyPilot

Because some employers want two qualifed captains.

See, here is the deal.

Central Widget Corp. buys a King Air 200 (single pilot turboprop) to fly the bigwigs around.

Central Widget's insurance co. says that's fine, but it will be flown with two pilots that we approve. Central Widget's CEO likes the safety of two pilots anyway, so he says that is fine.

Central Widget hires two pilots who fill out insurance applications and are approved. They go to initial or recurrent and the insurance co. says they are good to go.

Central Widget hires two PIC qualifed pilots because:
a. Better total qualifications and passenger confidence.
b. More flexibility. You see, Central Widget also has a day-hire (part time) SIC who is approved by the insurance co. So when one pilot is off, the show can go on. This is good for the pilots because otherwise, they may have to work 24/7/365.

Central Widget's senior captain then goes to Florida on a golf vacation, and leaves the junior captain to fly with Day Hire Dave, the SIC. Junior has to do a trip into TEB and IAD with 200 and a half weather with ice and thunderstorms.

Junior had better be left seat current don't you think.

That is why we often switch seats in the corp. world. That is why it is bad when someone is a stick-pig.

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Sometimes, people get into situations where they were hired to be a co-captain, and get paired with a stick pig. Then, they may be less than comfortable/proficient when they have to be the PIC in a crew environment, or a single pilot environment. Yet the boss expects his capt. to handle the low cigs and the 30kt crosswinds. They may not like to put up with it, but they are making a decent living, and are kind of stuck.

If a guy is a SIC only flying with a stick pig, he may be in a trap of being a co-pilot forever, which while is not unheard of in the 121 world, can be kind of bad in the corp. world. Instead, the company may want to train this future captain to be the pilot that Central Widget wants him to be, so they don't have to hire some unknown quantity. So, barring any restrictions in the SOPs/GOM/AFM the company may elect to have this SIC fly empty legs from the left seat to build him up. This may be important, as some smaller corp. airplanes may have limited instrumentation on the right side. (i.e. no efis, flight director, autopilot, or any of that fancy high speed airplane kind of stuff.)

AND I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT FLYING FOR FREE....just not being able to log right seat time. See, unlike most airline pilots, most corp. pilots are salaried and earning the same flying a 2 hour day as flying a 7 hour day. So a guy may be in the right seat of a King Air talking, running the FMS, flipping gear, etc. and getting paid for it all. It just isn't going in the logbook on that leg.


It is just different than the airline world....Does this make any sense.