The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

To The Eagle:

Three is sort of a magic number. In structural engineering or carpentry, a triangle is the strongest geometric figure. In navigation, it takes three lines of position to determine a fix. And, of course, the sturdiest steadiest piece of furniture is the three-legged stool, which is why it has been in use ever since dairy cows were invented.

As the aviation industry grew and airplanes became larger and more complex, three in the cockpit became the custom for large multi-engine airplanes. It was the general rule by the end of World War II, and law by the advent of the jet age. The third person was usually a flight engineer or flight mechanic, occasionally a navigator or radio operator, whose ostensible purpose was to share the load with the pilots by monitoring the various mechanical systems and helping with communication and navigation. But the third person's real value quickly became obvious -- a third brain, a third set of eyes, an overview of everything going on, a safety valve when the other two get fixated on the crisis du jour. An old saw about aviation: it's hours and hours of sheer boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror. And it was those moments when many an engineer helped save the day, not to mention helping keep everyone awake during the boredom of long ocean crossings.

By the mid-sixties, most of those flying the engineer position were required to be pilot qualified. Then, along came the DC-9, built for two pilots only, and the trend started back the other way. The Boeing 767 had sophisticated automated computerized flight systems and GPS navigation, which made the third pilot redundant, even on international flights, in the eyes of the manufacturer and the FAA, and an unnecessary expense in the eyes of airline management. The pilots and their unions fought hard to keep that 3rd guy, but the effort was generally regarded as featherbedding, and therefore a lost cause. My old airline (TWA) managed to keep a third pilot on for ocean crossings (they ruefully referred to the position as "typist" or "eater") but they've been gone since 2002. I had no idea how the other airlines had fared until reading the news about German Wings flight 9525.

One of the luxuries of the three man cockpit was that the captain could step back to heed a call of nature and leave two able-bodied airmen minding the store. And it would be incredibly difficult for any pilot to succumb to either suicidal depression or terroristic fanaticism with another crew member present. Airlines and aviation bureaucrats are scrambling to tighten rules and regulations -- but that's slamming the barn doors two decades and 150 lives too late.

Howard Brawn

Puget Island