Originally Posted by
BMEP100
Must have been different at United. At CAL, a DC-10 IRO had to be current in both seats and type rated, landing qualified as a captain. I know, I went through a couple landing currency sims on the 10 as IRO in 1988.
I specifically said they were "qualified". They just didn't do it as part of their job. Yes they had to go back for landings. They were basically a jack of all trades on the 3 person airplane. But their actual function was only to sit in those seats during cruise. Normally they sat in the jumpseat for takeoff and landing.
And all FOs at United who were on airplanes that could have more than 2 pilots were type rated as Captains, even new hires. I flew the 767 as a FO and had to get a type rating as Captain even though we never did International out of my base.
It wasn't any different I'm sure.