Pilots May Want Three In Boeings

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31530, 18 November 1967, Page 40

Pilots May Want Three In Boeings

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, November 17. The Airline Pilots’ Association believes that there should be three-man crews on the flight decks of the new Boeing 737 airliners during the introductory period.

The Boeing 737 s are expected to begin flying in New Zealand late next year.

The policy of the United States Airline Pilots’ Association is for three-man crews for all jet airliners. It has been suggested that in the United States pilots will not fly the 737 unless a third man is accommodated on the flight deck. The Boeing plane now coming off the production line is designed for two pilots. The secretary of the New Zealand association in Wellington (Captain J. W. Dickinson) said today that the association would leave a decision on crew numbers for the 737 until after the introductory tests. Because the association wanted to evaluate fully the performance of the new aircraft, it was likely that it would want three pilots, or two and a flight engineer, in the 737 during the first nine

months of use on the main trunk route, Captain Dickinson said.

The association has also asked that flight and duty times for the Boeing jet be made the same as for the Viscount aircraft during the introductory period. Although the Viscount is a two-pilot plane, N.A.C. has, when flying important passengers, installed a third man on the flight deck. “No approaches have been received from the Airline Pilots’ Association, nor have we had discussions with them on the flight deck crew numbers,” said an N.A.C. official.