Ask the Captain: Dividing duties in the cockpit

Question: What is the difference between first officer and captain?

- submitted by reader Sam, Malaysia

Answer: The captain is responsible for the flight and is in command of it. The first officer is the second in command. They are both licensed and work as a team to safely fly the airplane.

Q: How do the captain and first officer divvy up duties? Who flies the plane and who navigates and who talks to ATC?

- Russ Huntington Beach, CA

A: It is up to the Captain to decide who will fly the flight and who will perform the non-flying duties. There may be cases where the Captain determines that he or she wants to fly due to the weather or other conditions.

Some airports only allow captains to land, making that decision easy. Usually pilots swap the flying duties every other leg during the day.

Q: Why does the captain not fly for the entire time?

-- Ned

A: Several reasons:

The fatigue is better distributed if both pilots fly.

First officers gain experience they will need as captains.

Flying is not always the best use of the captain's experience, training and time. In cases of abnormal issues such as a system malfunction, it may be better for the Captain to not be tied up flying the airplane but to be coordinating the appropriate actions.

John Cox is a retired airline captain with U.S. Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems.