Originally Posted by swingear

As the lone IRO on an augmented flight, yes you absolutely must be qualified to relieve both pilots. As one of two IRO's on a heavy crew flight (which is what he's talking about), I'd disagree. You only need to be able to relieve who you're going to relieve. It's just about making sure nobody is at the controls for more than 8. So just pick a seat and try not to touch any dusty switches.

If you actually read the FOTM, the right seat qual is satisfied just by flying seat support for another PIC in the sim. So it's entirely dependent on the sim pairing whether or not you actually have to land from the right seat. This individual was probably paired with an FO on his initial type course, as many folks here were, but since there are a lot more CA's than FO's right now, he probably wasn't for recurrent. Hence the program being different. It's kinda funny that everyone is getting all hyped up over a CA flying right seat, but nobody mentions that there is no specific left seat qual in our FOTM, yet you have FO IRO's flying left seat. Now, you take your type from the left seat, but it isn't part of the recurrent program. I must say, it is pretty tricky running the radios with my other hand. Thrills, chills, and narrow escapes, I tell ya.

As to why they don't deadhead a crew down and have them operate back, you might want to check part 121 Supplemental Flight and Duty rules and the CBA. They're vastly different for a Heavy Crew vs two separate two man crews. They tried that. Doesn't work. It provides no benefit (duty-wise) over a two-man crew.