Ranks in aviation

The rank is a title that is assigned by the company. There are usually 4 types of ranks identified by the number of stripes on the sleeve of the jackets or on the tubes of the shirts:

• one stripe is the pilot in training
  two stripes the co-pilot
  three stripes the senior co-pilot
  four stripes the commander

In some companies there are four stripes with a star that indicates the “senior captain”, an elegant way of defining an “old commander”.

Jokes aside, these ranks are based on experience and the type of company logic. Each company draws up a contract with its collaborators in which the tasks, seniority increases, recognition of experience, etc. are described; these factors are not comparable evaluations between one company and another, just as it is difficult to compare the world of single-pilot aircraft with multi-pilot ones.

Technically, the flight instructor who teaches how to fly a Cessna 152 is, in all respects, according to the navigation code, a commander… but he is not the same commander who flies transoceanic routes with a B747.

In the world of helicopters it is the same thing: a Robinson 22 commander is different from a Superpuma commander. Without diminishing the figure of the commanders of “lighter vehicles”, who civilly, criminally and morally have the same responsibilities as those who pilot heavy vehicles, it is a bit funny to compare these figures.

So let’s leave it to the individual professional to be sensitive in boasting the title he has.

Now we come to something even more interesting: the functions.

The functions are linked to what is required by the company for that specific flight:

a commander can be designated to be a co-pilot, while maintaining his title, but a co-pilot cannot be designated to be a commander. There is always only one person responsible on board: the pilot in command, even if the other crew members (co-pilots, instructors, examiners, pilots in training…) may have the rank of commander but do not “exercise” it on that flight. The person who signs for that flight is the PIC and no one else.

A student pilot who does not yet have a qualification, when flying alone is responsible for the flight, therefore he is the Pilot in Command, the only case in which without a qualification one can be in command, even if the final responsibility falls on the instructor who approved the flight.

And finally there are the roles: who does what.

In the case of roles, which is only found in multi-crew piloting, there are pilot flying and pilot monitoring (or nicely pilot not-flying).

The first, very briefly, is the one who has the controls in his hand (wheel/yoke and throttles) and the second is the one who controls, navigates, communicates. Can a co-pilot be pilot flying? Absolutely yes. But the person in charge of the flight remains the Pilot in Command, or the Commander.

In multi crew therefore there are different scenarios.

A commander can be: commander, pilot in command, pilot flying or pilot monitoring and in any case remains responsible for the flight, a co-pilot can be pilot flying but will not be the pilot in command, an instructor is always the pilot in command even if he flies with a commander.

RECAP

The three distinctions between grade, function and role are not trivial and are defined by logics of responsibility and safety that each company will proceed with its own operating and training manuals.

It is very important for a professional to always be aware not only of the grade he has but also of the responsibility and above all of respect for the responsibilities of others.

With this new piece of “aeronautical culture” obviously we remain at your disposal if you want more information or if you are curious about it!

Happy landings!