Flight engineer

A flight engineer is a member of the cockpit and belongs to the minimum crew of older large commercial aircraft with a three- man cockpit. He is next to the captain (commander ) and the co-pilot ( first officer often called ), the third member of the crew in the cockpit. Flight engineers are pilots with additional training or System Operator with the appropriate license. In Germany performs a stand-alone two and a half years of training, which requires at least a college degree, for a flight engineer license.

The flight engineer 's job to monitor the aircraft systems such as the pressurized cabin, fuel supply and the engine and operate. In case of failure he may provide a remedy. He reads checklists and guides on the ground and in the air, the technical controls of the aircraft by.

Technical progress in the cockpit did not lead to continuous improvement in support of the pilots, but first to the elimination of the flight engineer. In the early years of aviation, there were on long-haul flights a radio operator on board, who was responsible for the communication. This was soon possible the pilots themselves through improved and simplified radios. The navigator had determined by the mid- 1960s with great effort over the world's oceans, the position of the aircraft, so take the day navigation systems such as Inertial Navigation System (INS ) and Flight Management System (FMS ). Finally, this development also affected the profession of flight engineer: In 1981, the Boeing 767, the Airbus A310 in 1982 and 1987 with the introduction of the Airbus A320 held computer comprehensive way into the cockpit. The routine work in normal operation have been considerably reduced, however, increases the complexity. It was not long until the large commercial aircraft such as Boeing 747 and Airbus A340 were equipped with these techniques. Systems such as EICAS gave the pilot information about the various aircraft systems, so that from now could take over the duties of the flight engineer on the two pilots.