Business: The Third Man Theme

Will two in the cockpit do?

Two pilots in a commercial jet are company, but do three make a crowd? For years airlines and pilots have bickered over the number of people who should be in the cockpit. In the 1930s, planes like Boeing's Flying Boat had five: a pilot, copilot, navigator, radio operator and mechanic. With improved technology, the count generally dwindled to three. But airlines and planemakers have long argued that only a pilot and co-pilot are needed.

Now Boeing, the largest manufacturer of commercial aircraft, has weighed in with statistics showing that two-member crews on planes like its own 737 or McDonnell Douglas' DC-9 have better safety records than the standard three-person complement flying most other planes. One reason, says Boeing: the extraneous third person can sometimes distract the other two at critical moments.

The 33,000-member Air Line Pilots Association (A.L.P.A.) strenuously insists that the third person provides a needed margin of safety, much like a second engine or a back-up hydraulic system.

Angered by the Federal Aviation Administration's approval of a two-person crew for one new craft, the 155-passenger DC-9 Super 80, A.L.P.A. pilots last week picketed the White House to show their frustration with the agency and its handling of the cockpit-manning question. Left to its own devices, the FAA would almost certainly give the green light to two-member crews for the forthcoming Boeing 767 and 757 airliners, which will each seat about 200 passengers. But for now, longer-range jumbo jets like the 747 or the DC-10, which accommodate 300 to 400, are likely to continue flying with three in the cockpit. ∙