The Final Aircraft In America With A Flight Engineer

Right this moment, plane usually solely require two flight crew: the pilot and the co-pilot. However this was not all the time the case. Earlier than the event of extra subtle microprocessors and computer systems, numerous bigger business plane wanted a flight engineer to assist monitor the plane and guarantee it was functioning correctly.

The march in the direction of autonomous programs continues. The prospect of pilotless business plane is changing into more and more possible with developments in expertise. With navy plane, the brand new B-21 Raider strategic bomber is thought to be optionally manned, whereas the Tempest/GCAP sixth-generation fighter jet can also be being developed to be optionally manned. However whereas pilotless business plane should still be a good distance off, the position of flight engineer has lengthy been eradicated. Here’s what to know in regards to the final US-built plane to have a flight engineer.

The Function Of The Flight Engineer

Flight engineers (additionally known as PFEs or air engineers) have been as soon as important to flying, and so they have been answerable for managing and working the airplane’s complicated programs. Flight engineers would work carefully with the pilots, notably throughout takeoff and touchdown, to make sure all the pieces ran easily. They have been discovered on bigger airplanes in addition to some helicopters and spacecraft.

FAA sort certificates require sure varieties of plane to have flight engineers. Boeing examples embrace the Boeing 307, Boeing 377, Boeing 707, Boeing 727, and early mannequin Boeing 747s. Douglas plane needing them included the DC-6, DC-7, and early fashions of the DC-8 and DC-10. Different examples embrace early Lockheed L-1011 TriStars, early Airbus A300s, and the Lockheed Constellation.

Smaller twin-engine jets just like the Boeing 737, DC-9, and Caravelle weren’t thought of complicated sufficient to require a flight engineer. In the meantime, by the point widebody jets just like the Airbus A310, Airbus A300-600, Boeing 767, McDonnell Douglas MD-11, and later Jumbo fashions have been constructed, expertise had superior to the purpose that they have been not wanted.

Finish Of Flight Engineers

Lately, the plane’s complicated programs are monitored and adjusted by onboard microprocessors and computer systems, rendering the position of a flight engineer redundant. On the identical time, all of the older business plane that require a flight engineer have retired from scheduled passenger service with US-based airways. The flight engineer is a kind of roles, like phone operators, that new technological developments create, solely to be made redundant by subsequent technological developments.

From the Eighties, small and highly effective built-in circuits, together with different developments, have been developed, together with digital expertise. Right this moment, trendy plane are two-pilot flight deck airplanes. The air freighter trade tends to function plane for longer than the business passenger sector. FedEx continued to function DC-10s till 2021. These have been initially delivered with a flight engineer’s station, however had been subsequently upgraded to the MD-10 normal, eliminating that position.

The largely historic position of a flight engineer within the cockpit shouldn’t be confused with that of a Licensed Plane Engineer (LAE). Skybrary defines the position of an LAE as “An individual who has been educated as an plane engineer and holds a licence issued by a NAA which permits them to certify work carried out on an plane.”

Final US-Made Business Airplane With Flight Engineer

What was the final US airplane constructed with a flight engineer station? The reply varies relying on what plane are thought of. The navy continued to buy navy variants of the Boeing 707 (because the E-3 Sentry and E-6 Mercury), requiring a flight engineer after business manufacturing had ceased.

Extra lately, Northrop Grumman’s subsidiary, Scaled Composites, delivered the Mannequin 351 Stratolaunch (aka Roc). By some measures, Roc is the most important plane flying right this moment and is used as a mothership. It’s partly constructed from recycled Boeing 747 Jumbos, and just one instance has been constructed. The plane has two pilots and one flight engineer.

The ultimate US-built business plane with a flight engineer could have been a Boeing 747-200F (delivered after the ultimate Boeing 747-300). It was initially registered as JA8194 and delivered to Nippon Cargo Airways, and is now registered EP-FAB flying for Fars Air Qeshm in Iran. That plane (MSN 25171) was the final Boeing 747 Traditional constructed, is 33.7 years previous, and stays energetic right this moment. There have been later navy plane with flight engineers just like the Boeing E-3D Sentry (registered ZH107), primarily based on the Boeing 707, constructed for the Royal Air Pressure. That instance was delivered in 1992, however was damaged up in 2023.

Plane Nonetheless Requiring A Flight Engineer

The position of flight engineer is a disappearing one, nevertheless it nonetheless exists. The final main freighter to make use of flight engineers was FedEx when it retired the final of its Boeing 727s in 2013. In the meantime, Northwest’s Boeing 747-200s have been probably the final passenger plane from a significant US provider to make use of flight engineers. These Boeing 747-200s have been used as constitution flights of their remaining years, retiring in 2009. There are nonetheless only a few previous civilian plane flying that want flight engineers.

Right this moment, it’s extra frequent to search out flight engineers on navy plane and previous Soviet/Russian-built plane. The long-lasting An-225 required a number of flight engineers, whereas the An-124 Ruslan, the most important navy transport flying right this moment, requires a chief flight engineer and {an electrical} flight engineer (a complete crew of six). The US Air Pressure C-5M Tremendous Galaxy requires two flight engineers.

Boeing did not remove the necessity for a flight engineer in its Boeing 747 Jumbos till the 747-400. The Air Pressure’s VC-25 ‘Air Pressure One’ Presidential transports are primarily based on the 747-200B and require flight engineers. The Boeing E-4 Nightwatch (Doomsday airplane) can also be primarily based on the 747-200 and sure requires a flight engineer. New navy plane are typically a mixture of futuristic and, from a business standpoint, growing older or out of date plane. For instance, whereas the sixth-generation F-47 fighter jet will characterize the chopping fringe of expertise, the Air Pressure is buying the KC-46A tanker primarily based on the Boeing 767, which has been outdated by the 787.

Making A Comeback In Russia?

There could but be one nook of the world the place business plane might as soon as once more be constructed with flight engineers. In 2022, the West imposed crippling sanctions on Russia’s aviation trade, successfully halting its business plane manufacturing in a single day. As of mid-2025, Russia has did not ship any business plane, barring just a few Superjets assembled with pre-stocked parts.

As Russia is lower off from buying Western parts, it’s trying backwards to restarting manufacturing of previous Soviet-era out of date passenger jets just like the Tupolev Tu-214/Tu-204 and Ilushin Il-96. Whereas Russia produced up to date variants, these variants have been produced with no-longer-available Western parts. In line with the BBC, writing in December 2024, Russia is contemplating placing the older, extra out of date, however less complicated variants again into manufacturing.

These previous Il-96s and Tu-214s require flight crews of three and have very low ranges of automation. Pilots must maintain monitor of issues like ensuring the wings stay balanced with the identical quantity of gas. In an effort to fly these plane, Russia would wish to reopen a coaching faculty for flight engineers and to coach pilots to fly antiquated programs. It is unclear if these plane will truly be made. Aeroflot has acknowledged it does not need the Tu-214s, whereas FlightGlobal reported in 2024 that Russia was searching for methods to offer it a flight crew of two.

The Circumstances For 1991 & 2019

The ultimate business plane with flight engineers was in-built the US till 1991, whereas navy examples continued for one more 12 months or so. Business plane that want flight engineers have, by and huge, all been retired. Some plane (like FedEx’s DC-10s) have been additionally retrofitted later in life to remove the necessity for a flight engineer. It’s attainable Russia might quickly put examples of out of date business plane requiring flight engineers, together with the Il-96 and Tu-214, again into manufacturing.

The latest instance of an plane constructed with a flight engineer is the distinctive Scaled Composites Mannequin 351 Stratolaunch. That particular twin-boom, six-engined plane has parts of two stripped-down Jumbos and is presently used to launch take a look at hypersonic missiles. The plane is sparingly flown, having solely flown round 25 instances since 2019.

Whereas it’s attainable to search out examples of business plane flying with flight engineers all over the world, extra are present in navy service. This contains modified Boeing 747-200s in US Air Pressure service and Lockheed C-5M Tremendous Galaxy strategic airlifters. Additionally it is frequent with operators of Soviet-era plane. There’ll proceed to be an ever-narrowing area of interest for flight engineers for years to come back. The ultimate American business plane requiring a flight engineer rolled off the manufacturing line in 1991.