PADSpot From Germany, joined Jan 2005, 1676 posts, RR: 5 Posted (8 years 1 month 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 3731 times:
I just asked myself if flight engineers on older aircraft like 742, 743, DC10 etc. actually have a real pilot's license? In other words: Can they take the seat of a first officer or captain in case their "old" airplane is phased or do they the become unemployed?
EMBQA From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 9286 posts, RR: 13 Reply 1, posted (8 years 1 month 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 3715 times:
In some cases yes, others no. Today the FE position is just a stepping stone to move up to the right seat within a company that flys 3 man crews. But there are a few 'old school' FE's out there that only hold a FE License.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"
MD-90 From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 8418 posts, RR: 13 Reply 2, posted (8 years 1 month 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 3675 times:
It depends on whether the FE actually has a pilot's license or not. Most do, nowadays, but in the past (the great long, long ago) a lot of them didn't.
MD11Engineer From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 13338 posts, RR: 64 Reply 5, posted (8 years 1 month 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 3516 times:
You have to distinguish between PFEs (Professional flight engineers), who often have a maintenance background and second officers (pilots in training). While the first ones are actually capable of doing troubleshooting in flight and were often used to do and sign off maintenance on outstations, where there was no regular MX (it could happen that the crew had e.g. to change a wheel, Condor e.g. carried a flight kit of two spare wheels (1 nose, one main), a standard mechanic´s tool box, torque wrenches, a bottle jack and a box of oil and hydraulic fluid cans on their DC-10s), the later one mostly only know when to press which button during which stage of the flight.
PADSpot From Germany, joined Jan 2005, 1676 posts, RR: 5 Reply 6, posted (8 years 1 month 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 3371 times:
Thanks a lot for all your input! Now it is clear. Either way i am far too advanced with my studies to change the profession. But sitting in the back of the cockpit, turning fuel pumps on and off appealed to me on my search for a as far as possible smooth job with acceptable payment ....
Jetlagged From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2005, 2452 posts, RR: 17 Reply 9, posted (8 years 1 month 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 3140 times:
Quoting HAWK21M (Reply 8): What are FEs normally doing since most Aircraft have Two man Cockpit crew.Do they upgrade to F/Os or just choose another proffession
Some will prefer to stay as F/E, because there are still a lot of three crew aircraft flying, especially in the freighter world. Others may convert to pilots. It depends on many factors, such as age, willingness to migrate, medical issues, etc. So you can't really generalise on what is normal.
The glass isn't half empty, or half full, it's twice as big as it needs to be.
HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31201 posts, RR: 58 Reply 10, posted (8 years 1 month 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 3106 times:
Quoting Jetlagged (Reply 9):
Some will prefer to stay as F/E, because there are still a lot of three crew aircraft flying, especially in the freighter world. Others may convert to pilots. It depends on many factors, such as age, willingness to migrate, medical issues, etc. So you can't really generalise on what is normal.
What would be the steps in general to convert from FE to F/O.
regds
MEL
Doug_Or From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 3163 posts, RR: 4 Reply 11, posted (8 years 1 month 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 3110 times:
To upgrade to FO they would need an AMEL commercial pilots license with an intrument rating. Most US carriers that fly 3 man crews (NWA, FedEx, UPS, DHL), hire pilots that start out in the FE seat. I believe Planet (an FL based 727 charter operator) use MX guys like MD11 was talking about.
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