3. INTENSE ARGUMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES TEROUGtI THE 70s OVER TEE CREW COMPLEMENT
ISSUE
In 1967 the airworthiness certificate for the two man B-737 was acquired. In the
following year, evaluation tests were conducted on a wide scale to determine whether to
implement the two man crew complement with which the airworthiness certificate was
acquired or to use the three man crew configuration as advocated by airline flight crew.
The Federal Arbitration Commission assessed that it was possible to fly with two men but
that implementation of the three man cockpit would contribute to safety in the early
stages of introduction. United Airlines therefore started operation of the B-737 in 1970
with three men.
This fact greatly influenced Western Airlines and others; with Western, Wein and Frontier
making the decision to ny this aircraft with three men.
In 1971, the crew complement issue of the B-737 was discussed at Aloha Airlines.
The Federal Arbitration Commission officer who dealt with the arguments between Aloha and
US ALPA assessed that it was possible to operate the aircraft in Hawaii with two men due
to the traffic volume and weather conditions there. He nevertheless supported the three
crew configuration for B-737 operation in places in the United States other than Hawaii.
In 1973, US ALPA confronted the management of Wein Airlines, which was trying to replace
the three man crew of the B-737 with two men. The Federal Arbitration officer at that time
judged and approved the implementing of the three man crew complement. The examples of
United and Aloha were referred to, concluding that the flight conditions were most similar
to that of United.
In 1976, pilots at Frontier Airlines, after conducting three man operation of the B-737
for six years, accepted the two man crew complement proposal of management. Wein airmen
went on strike when the company management tried to forcibly implement the two man crew on
their B-737.
In answer to the continued strike on the crew complement issue of the B-737, in 1979 the
President's Energy Commission set up by President Carter, instructed Wein to operate their
B-737 with two crew members. The pilots at Wein were made to accept this leaving United as
the only airline operating the B-737 with three men.
Airmen in the United States have consistently fought the crew complement problem in the
1970s within the social environment dominated by the petroleum crisis and deregulation.
Arguments regarding the two man crew complement further intensified during the acquisition
of the airworthiness certification of the DC-9-80 and at the announcement that the B-757
and B-767 were being developed with a two man crew.
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