Just curious as to what's the number of flight crew members needed to operate a:


747-400?
A-330?
A-300?
B-777-4/ER?
B-777-3/ER?

My reason for asking is that I saw an SO pay scale on NWA page here @ APC.


Thanks.




atp

Its all dependent on how many seats the a/c has. UP to 18, dont need a FA, 19-50, need 1 FA, then I believe it's basically for every 50 seats, you need an additional FA. It's in the regs somewhere, too lazy to look it up at the moment.

I think he means flight deck crew not F/A's.

He's right.

How many flight deck crewmembers for each a/c?



atp

I think all the planes you mentioned are 2-pilot aircraft. Older aircraft had a FE (flight engineer) that may or may not have been a pilot. You don't have to be a pilot to be a FE. They also called them "second officer".

Now most of those aircraft fly long legs, so additional pilots are required to give the other pilots a break. At my airline, after 8 hours of flying you get a third pilot and after 12 hours you get a fourth. Two pilots fly and two rest, then they switch places after halfway. On three pilot crew rest, you split the flight into thirds for rest.

Note: flight crew includes flight attendants. They are required crew members on the flight. Flight deck (can't say cockpit anymore) are pilots or pilots/engineers; those crew members on the flight deck.

ATP, all those planes you mentioned require only 2 pilots. NWA has some older 747's that require 3 (the 200 series). That is why you see SO scales on the 747. I believe there was some news recently about Delta planning on getting rid of the 747-200's. NWA used the 200 series for cargo ops out of Alaska. I believe they got rid of the SO pay scales with the new DAL pay scales, but Im not 100% on that.

Thanks Otto & ULA.



atp

NWA operates 30 B747's. Sixteen of these are 747-400 that are flown by 2 pilot crews augmented on long flights with additional pilots. NWA also operates 14 B747-200's. Twelve of these are freighters based in ANC and two are passenger aircraft dedicated to charters and are based in MSP. All of these 200 series require a 3 pilot crew (Captain, FO, and Flight Engineer). Because it is a three man crew they can fly up to 12 hour legs without extra crew. This why you saw an SO pay scale and it is in the new DAL contract.

Thanks Silverfox. I kinda knew about the 777 and the A-300 being a 2 man crew, but I didn't know whether or not the 74-4's and the A330 were.

On airliners.net, when you look at the different cockpit shots of the A-330 and 74-4's, sometimes you see a third seat. Usually in the same position where the SO/FE sits.



atp

The older A-300 B4 Had a flight engineer position.