Sir - I agree with Alan Mason on the need for a flight engineer (Flight International, 26 March-1 April) - perhaps not so much for the reasons he gave, but for those of crew resource.
- the engineer is responsible to the fleet's chief engineer, not the chief pilot. This allows a greater degree of freedom to "speak up" in the cockpit;
- an engineer is mechanically minded and will go to much greater depths at ground school to find out how each aircraft system works, down to the last bolt. Therefore, an engineer's advice to the captain on system handling during a non-normal incident that is "not in the book" is invaluable;
- in an all-out emergency, the workload is reduced by the engineer taking exclusive care of essential systems, leaving both pilots free to deal with the situation by making decisions and controlling the aircraft.
I wonder how many accidents over the last two years would have had a different outcome had an engineer been present.
CAPT MARK ZUCAL
Selangor, Malaysia
Source: Flight International
