Career First Officers

Ian Mack (ianm_at_dciem.dnd.ca)
Wed, 14 Jan 1998 13:53:16 -0500


Listmembers,

The current discussion about go-around procedures prompts me to ask the
list for
thoughts and opinions on a matter which I've been interested in for awhile:

I am aware of one accident and one incident where the first officer was a
'career FO', i.e. someone who will never sit in the left seat. In the case of
the accident, it was a CFIT where the FO realized something was wrong in time
to prevent the accident, but the Capt disregarded his concerns.

Some questions:

1. Why do we have career FOs? (e.g. poor selection, pilot prefers to be an
FO,
poor leadership skills, etc.)

2. Does your airline/military organization have career FOs?

3. Do you think that career FOs are 'a bad thing', i.e. should have
up or out progression?

Ian Mack
Human Factors Engineer
DCIEM