A female co-pilot in the cockpit
Can a co-pilot land an airplane?
Blake Winfield from Quora asks the above question. This was responded by me before but it’s worth sharing again.
Although the captain is responsible for everything that happens onboard the plane, it is a common misconception that the co-pilot is only an assistant or a trainee who does not take off or land the aircraft.
The truth is, he or she is second-in-command, also sometimes known as the first officer, can in fact take off or land an airplane.
It is a normal procedure at the start of a flight for the captain and first officer to decide who, between them, is going to be the pilot flying (PF), so that the other would be the pilot monitoring (PM).
This interchanging flying duty is then repeated for the rest of the trip.
While the PF focuses on the actual flight maneuvers, the PM of that particular sector, regardless of whether he or she is the captain or first officer, handles radio communications, reads the checklists and conducts the pre-flight or external checks. And together, the captain and first officer also monitor each other’s performance as a team.
For safety reasons, there are certain flight restrictions when the co-pilot is flying the plane.
For instance, on the Airbus A330, the co-pilot is only permitted to land the plane in cross-winds if the wind strength is not more than 20 knots whereas the captain can land the aircraft when winds are blowing up to 40 knots from the side.
Similarly, for a visual landing, the permitted visibility imposed upon a co-pilot is more rigid than the range allowed for a captain, for the simple reason that the latter is more experienced.
Today, co-pilot training is also focused on enhancing safety in flight.
First officers are trained to be assertive when conveying critical messages. The strategy is for the co-pilot to first alert the captain of any impending danger, then, offer a solution.
If no corrective action is taken by the captain, the co-pilot is to resort to an emergency assertive procedure, which would normally be initiated when the plane is below 1,000 feet above ground level.
In line with their training, the co-pilot must first stress to the captain that they are approaching an unstable situation.
For example, if a co-pilot determines that a landing should be aborted due to unsafe conditions, he or she must communicate this clearly to the captain.
If the captain ignores the warning and fails to take the necessary remedial action, the co-pilot’s next address would be, “Captain, you must listen, go around now!” failing which, he or she must seize the controls from the captain and state, “I have control, going around now!”
This special procedure is imperative in the aviation industry, as, in an emergency, there is no time to argue over a critical decision; any disagreement between the captain and the first officer is settled later on.
See a video on a female captain and co-pilot flying from Dublin to Los Angeles