If the cockpit fell off a airliner while in mid-flight, could it be landed safely?

That’s a *little *behind the times. :slight_smile:

The last airline navigators disappeared in the early 1960s. That reduced the then-current 4-man crew on long range flights to 3: Captain, co-pilot, and flight engineer. The flight engineer is sort of an on-board mechanic and the equivalent of a ship’s engineering officer: responsible for operating all the mechanical systems so the pilots can concentrate on steering. So hydraulics, engines, electrical, HVAC, fuel, etc.

The last mainstream airliners built with flight engineer positions and hence a need for flight engineer workers were the Boeing 707, 727, 747-100, 747-200, and 747-300. Plus the Douglas DC-8, DC-10, Lockheed L-1011, and the earliest couple of versions of the Airbus A300.

As far as I know none of any of these aircraft types are left in passenger service anywhere in the world except for a few 727s banging around in Africa. There are a decent number of the early 747s and 727s and a few DC-8s and DC-10s still in freight service.

Everything built since then, roughly the late 1970s, has no flight engineer. Which reduces the normal crew complement from 3 to 2. This includes the later A300s, all higher numbered Airbuses, the 747-400 and all higher numbered Boeings, and all the Douglas MD aircraft including the MD-11 variant of the 3-crew DC-10.

The one place that 3 (or 4) pilots are still used today is on very long range flights. A 2-pilot aircraft that can stay airborne 10 or 12 hours will carry an extra pilot and they take turns: 1 sleeps while 2 work. A 2-pilot aircraft that can stay airborne 14 or 16 hours will carry two extra pilots and they all take turns: 2 sleep while 2 work.

But all these people are pilots doing the pilot job. Which now (with help from smarter airplanes) includes all the functions formerly performed by flight engineers and flight navigators.