Second officer (aviation)

Second officer is a civil aviation rank, also known as junior first officer. It is used for pilots at an early stage of their career.[1]

Role

Modern airliners only require two pilots, the captain and the first officer.[2] Before a pilot is fully qualified to operate as first officer, they will typically act as a second officer, sitting in the right hand seat, while undergoing training and supervision from a training captain. A safety pilot will sit in the jump seat to monitor the junior first officer and the captain.[3][4]

In some airlines, a second officer is not permitted to take off or land the aircraft, and will only fly the aircraft during the cruise.[5][6]

At Singapore Airlines and Scoot, second officers are usually promoted to first officer after 5-8 months.[1] In Ryanair UK, pilots are promoted from second officer to junior first officer when they achieve 500 hours of flight time.[7]

Usage

Airlines which use the title "second officer" include:

Historically, the second officer was the flight engineer. This is a trained pilot who does not fly the aircraft, but instead monitors aircraft systems.[16] Modern airliners only require two pilots, and do not have a flight engineer or a navigator.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Career Progression". Pilot Kaki. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  2. "First-Hand:Evolution of the 2-Person Crew Jet Transport Flight Deck". ETHW. 30 July 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  3. "How to become a Boeing 737 Ryanair Pilot". JohanAero. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  4. Secchi, Beatrice (12 November 2021). "Ryanair line training". AFTA graduate blog. AFTA. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  5. Page, Charlie. "The path to becoming an airline captain -- how pilots climb the ranks". Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  6. "What do Pilot Stripes Mean?". FlightDeckFriend.com. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  7. "Pilot Salary UK: Everything You Need To Know". The Pilot Guys. 28 May 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  8. "Cathay Pacific Airways Second Officer". Better Aviation. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  9. Fan, Wenxin. "At Controls of Crashed China Eastern Jet: One of Country's First Commercial Pilots". WSJ. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  10. Airline Jobs | Jet2Careers Jet2.com Retrieved 8 Jul 2023.
  11. KLM Cockpit crew KLM Retrieved 4 june 2023.
  12. "Pilot career entry". European Flight Academy. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  13. "Singapore Airlines Pilot Recruitment - Direct Entry Second Officer". Fly Gosh. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  14. "Airbus pilot cadets to be recruited by Volotea". aircraft.airbus.com. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  15. "Air New Zealand Careers". careers.airnewzealand.co.nz. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  16. Harris, Tom. How Airline Crews Work, HowStuffWorks.com website, June 14, 2001. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
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