Rarely, but my rule is “positive exchange of controls” and the pilot flying is responsible for everything, including specifically asking for help when desired (“could you check the frequency for x VOR/DME?”). I don’t like separating out the COMMS from flying, but I can see how an instructor might do this with a low time student.
I find it’s best not to try to “help” or divide functions.
ONLY KIDDING !
I am still unexperienced, but I took the logic of Pilot Flying/Pilot Monitoring. I tried to find a way to reduce the pilot’s workload and allow him to enjoy the flight without him taking bad habits for single pilot flying and being disturbed by somebody who has different habits.
The pilot in the LHS flies the airplane almost as if he was alone. The other one monitors and he only acts if he notices something contrary to the safety of flight. They can discuss how different they do things according to the pilot’s workload. Of course, the pilot flying may give certain tasks to the RHS like holding the controls or setting frequencies.
I like the PIC to keep the full control of the flight in terms of decision making and to me, talking to ATC sometimes implies quick decision making. He may ask his fellow to hold the heading and altitude while he negociates with ATC.
So maybe I should call it Pilot Deciding/Pilot Helping.
Although I like to (and in the vast majority of cases obviously have to) do all the navigation and communication by myself, I choose to share tasks from time to time.
Like many others posting here we usually have the person in the L/H seat do the flying, and the person in the R/H seat do the radios.
But I would never do this without proper preflight briefing, and only with people I know, trust and whose approach to flying I agree with.
Of course every action has to be agreed upon, e.g. changing frequencies or editing the flight plan on the GNS430.
When done sensibly, it does reduce the amount of heads-down-time of the PIC, and to me that’s a good thing.
Someone who fiddles with my setup without my request or consent is not going to be flying with me in the future. Well, maybe in the baggage compartment ;)
But what I always do (and expect others to do) is point out obvious mistakes.
More than once I had to remind a fellow pilot to switch on the electric fuel pump in the Aquila for takeoff, when he hasn’t flown them but Cessnas for a while. He was thankful for that, and on return point out a frequency confusion on my side some flights later.
(Edited for typos/ format)
What I have found most useful is if the other pilot does the radio and CAS awareness. I have not done many such flights but did some great low level ones with @dublinpilot, around Ireland and Scotland. When doing low level stuff it really works well. High altitude IFR, not really, but that may just be how I am used to flying.
When I fly in the right seat I usually offer to handle the radios and transponder, programming the 430 and chart navigation. Also looking out for traffic and documenting the flight aka taking pictures.
On a VFR flight in an unfamiliar region, if I have a local pilot in the right seat, I will definitely appreciate being shown the local landmarks.
The two most useful and least intrusive are
1) Listen to radio – and alert me if I miss a call with my registration.
2) Look out for traffic – and alert me anytime other aircraft are at or near our level.
During my first 300h or so, I had difficulties as PIC maintaining situational awareness when another pilot was doing the radios, so I usually chose to do both when possible (that is, except for the very beginning of my PPL training). Then there are some club planes where the LHS does not hear the RHS when (s)he is transmitting…
Setting frequencies on the radio, squawks on transponder, etc has always been a welcome help. Any issue is discussed (e.g. “aren’t we awfully close to that P area? My preparation says it is not active, but let’s confirm with FIS” or “I have the impression we lost a some RPM; do you think we should put carb heat?”).
Another useful thing in some situations is one person looking at instruments and the other outside. On a GNSS approach, we had the case of the PIC & PF looking only at the instruments and I was looking mostly outside. I saw the PAPI turning from three red to four red, but the instruments said we were right on GS…
On a “not a SEP” somewhat more complex plane, I flew a few times PIC with a professional pilot (not class-rated for the plane) in the RHS seat. I must say that the collaboration was very smooth and natural. I actually felt more “in charge” than with some club pilot PPLs in the right seat, but efficiently assisted. It was not airline-style MCC task separation, but the most helpful was that they read the right checklist for me at the right tempo at the right time (at my request), which drastically reduced my time not looking at instruments / outside. I think that could really, really be taught to PPL pilots, whether before or after their skill test :) And this “checklist” stuff can also be used to “remind” the PIC to consider an action :)
I have done some flights with a 2nd pilot and we usually had a great time and it was fun. The other guy has also been flying the Mooney for about as long as me. Both of us have been exposed to multi crew environments when doing airline work and I greatly enjoy flying multi crew with a compatible person. On top, I have flown multi crew airplanes and both of us have at some stage done introductions to multi crew ops so it comes naturally.
Clearly, CRM is necessary and that also involves the passengers as in a 4 seater in reality everyone is part of the crew, particularly in case of emergency. Clearly, this only works well if botch pilots are trained and current on the aircraft in question. And clearly, the PF/PNF concept is vital for something like this to work.
What we do is the classical PF/PNF tasks. PF flies the airplane and orders what he wants done. PNF operates the radio and GNS and reads checklists on demand and keeps the flight log current. Whenever we do something, we apply a closed loop interaction, eg the PF commands “Gear Down”, the PNF operates the gear and answers “Gear down, green”, which the PF checks and replies, “Gear down, green checked”. It’s a bit challenging at first until you get the hang of it but once you do, it’s great fun and can also help in other situations. (e.g. if you and your partner constantly misunderstand each other because nobody really listens, start reading back orders in the kitchen or the workplace and see how much your co-working improves. It sounds silly but it works.)
