In-flight crew relief

In-flight crew relief is generally required for flights that are determined to be long haul or "ultra long-haul" on aircraft commercially operated (airline operated). In certain places such as the United States, flights will be given these classifications and equipped with relief crews when around or exceeding 8–12 hours domestically or internationally. Operators of these flights prototypically will have 1 or 2 relief pilots to the amalgamated 3 to 4 pilots assigned to the total aircrew depending on the regional jurisdictions regarding flight length. In modern years however, the pilots consisting of a relief crew are usually certified as captains or first officers correspondingly being referred in certain instances as the relief captain or relief first officer. A prominent intention for the utilization of in-flight crew relief is in the interval(s) the pilots of the relief crew have aircraft command, the pilots of the primary crew are permitted to exit the flight deck (cockpit) for extended periods of time and be able to regain energy from sleep or rest in the aircraft cabin or dedicated crew rest compartments equipped in some aircraft. Pilots in the relief crew may be used also to assume command of the aircraft in the event of an in-flight emergency causing or due to the incapacitation or unexpected death of one or both of the commanding pilots of the primary crew. == Regulations and scheduling arrangements ==

The members of a relief flight crew are intended by their commercial operators to be properly and fully rested prior to the departure of a flight and provided a seat in either the flight deck (typically a jump seat) or a seat in the cabin of the aircraft. Air France also made it requirement for the relief pilot(s) to not engage in operating the aircraft during these processes and to assist in pre-flight planning with the active crew. British Airways has been noted to also require the flight deck presence of the relief pilot(s) during takeoff and landing. They similarly task the relief crew to assist with ground services and flight planning before takeoff in addition to prohibiting "abort" or "go around" directive callouts from the relief pilots in these situations. The Federal Aviation Administration has approved policies from multiple airlines requiring a qualified crew member such as a relief pilot to be in the flight deck during the short temporary absence of one of the active pilots as a direct result of the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 in 2015. The schedule for when the relief crew takes over control of an aircraft's flight deck from the active crew is mainly designated in accordance with the guidelines created by the commercial operator of the aircraft though in some cases it may be arranged along with a verbal consensus between both flight crews. These type pilots of a relief crew that regularly take command during these portions are alternately referred as cruise relief pilots. Cruise relief pilots are designed to command the aircraft typically at altitudes of 20,000 feet and higher. The primary crew will then reassume command typically before the flight's final descent into the landing approach and land the aircraft. == Scrutinization and refinements ==

The European Cockpit Association (ECA) published an article on April 9, 2014, in which critical concerns and issues regarding flight safety around the specialized relief crew role of a "cruise relief pilot" were expressed. The organization detailed at time of the article's publishing, regulations did not make commercial operators have landing and takeoff training mandatory for cruise relief pilots. The ECA article addresses this further with the probable scenario of an emergency or technical malfunction stating " ...each and every crew member in the cockpit must be able to safely handle, both above and below FL 200." Some proposed in the published report included "that a cruise relief co-pilot and a cruise relief pilot are adequately trained and qualified to safely operate an aeroplane during the cruise segment of a flight" and "appropriate operating procedures are established for the transfer of authority from the captain to the cruise relief pilot." The EASA in their report used supporting evidence in the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety's (BEA) investigation into the crash of Air France Flight 447, which no directive or nomination was given from the vacating captain to whether the first officer relieving the captain in the left seat or the first officer in the right seat should be the pilot in command. == See also ==