So You Want To Be A Flight Engineer?

So,You Want to Be A Flight Engineer?

By Stephen P. Prentice

August 2001

Once upon a time, before ALPA was all-powerful, flight engineers on transport aircraft were licensed A&P mechanics. A mechanic was routinely hired for that spot and trained to fill the position on most of the large piston engine and early turbojet and turboprop aircraft. He was a professional flight engineer and had the same stature as the rest of the flight crew. The crew commonly included a navigator as well.

Labor unrest
In the early 1960’s, a strong, international flight engineers’ union represented the interests of all the professional flight engineers.
Somewhere along the line when jets appeared, an effort to eliminate flight engineers began. Keeping in mind that the flight engineers’ union may have been a thorn in their side, ALPA and the air carriers, with the help of FAA, went about changing the rules. A concerted effort from several quarters was mounted to replace flight engineers with pilots trained to be flight engineers.
Needless to say, the engineers were upset at this effort so they went on strike to spotlight their views, which they felt were being ignored. American Airlines and the Eastern Airlines engineers were the most vocal although they were joined by many others in picketing at the White House in Washington, DC. Indeed, the American pilots were so upset at the treatment of the engineers by ALPA that they quit that union and started their own, now called Allied Pilots Association. The strike activity shut down the industry and even the President at the time, John F. Kennedy, could not get them back to work. The recollection of some old timers is that they all even received telegrams from the President asking them to go back to work!

Pilot training for all
A Commission was convened to try and get the companies, the unions, ALPA, and the FAA, together. The final solution resulted in offering commercial pilot training to all flight engineers so that everybody would be a pilot. In order to take care of the old timers, engineers were given basic pilot training so that they could qualify as a commercial pilot, still remain at the engineer’s position and thus, satisfy the new rules. Most had no desire to fly the aircraft but nonetheless, they were offered training. Some were offered the value of the training in dollars as an alternative. Many were made pilots, others simply retired or continued as flight engineers. New hires had to have pilot backgrounds and had to be hired as flight officer pilots and trained as flight engineers. It no longer mattered whether or not they had a mechanic’s certificate — this point held little significance to most companies as time went on.

It all comes down to money
The real reason the flight engineer position was eliminated by most air carriers was primarily to save money. The carriers, of course, replied that the state-of-the-art aircraft did not require an engineer any longer on the flight deck — he could be replaced by instrumentation. The B737 was designed with and without a flight engineer position, but eventually the position was discarded. The carriers wanted one less paycheck on the flight deck and if still necessary, a low paid one at that. Never mind that the third set of eyes in the cockpit many times could and did make a big difference.
The military was smart and kept the need for a flight engineer in most of their aircraft including twin-engine types. All of the current, large military transports have flight engineer positions. It still makes good sense to have an additional crewmember to monitor the workings of the aircraft.
But alas, money rules.