Redwings – On the B742 at Virgin the FE had to be able to set the aircraft up for an autoland in the event of both pilots becoming incapacitated. In the event on 1 pilot becoming incapacitated the FE would read checklists and perhaps move flap/gear levers on the remaining pilots command.

glhcarl, the question was never about deliberately setting off 2 crew in a 3 crew aircraft but how to cope with one pilot becoming incapacitated after departure so the ‘regulations’ are not really relevant here.

Sandy, that brings up an interesting aspect as it was always common in the States for the FE to be a pilot waiting to get a shot in the right hand seat.

Does it mean the US airlines, and regulators, and manufacturers, made the assumption that if one pilot were incapacitated, the FE would be a qualified pilot and might leave the FE station to occupy the free seat? That landing an airliner by one qualified pilot required double flightccrew incapacitation?

With the exception of BEA and their Trident fleet the UK has always (at least for the last 20 years of FE ops) looked at the FE position as a dedicated engineers post as their supreme engineering skills were the thing that would get you home when the aircraft goes TU. They also tended to know the precise location of every strip joint in every city in the world!

So, the UK makes the assumption that FE has engineering expertise which neither pilot is expected to possess… with exception of Trident… does it run through, e. g. the cockpit setup of the VC10?