Originally Posted by
OzoneRanger
I'm reminded by certain foreign countries that fly with an "aircraft commander." This guy's sole job is to be in command of the aircraft, and not necessarily take hold of the controls. Much like modern (and historical) maritime operations.
That seems to better fit your example of captaincy, but as an aside I wonder what those aforementioned countries CRM is like?
Thanks for your observations, OzoneRanger. I haven't had any experience with any "aircraft commanders" of the kind you refer to, so I can't say how they might compare with the example. However, I have flown maritime patrols where the "mission specialist" was in control of operations, but the captain had operational control (of the flight). These two modes of control are not the same. Control of operations is a management (staff) function to set or change destinations, terminate or revise or reroute missions (or flights), and so forth. As a rule, the mission specialist isn't a pilot: he's a manager and as such is not vested with command authority either in law or in regulations (Canada and the US). Consequently, he cannot legally command. Only the PIC can. Operational control, on the other hand, is a command function to carry out the orders of the mission specialist if present, or those of Flight Operations if not (e.g. airlines).