B. Flight Monitoring

The recent volume of air traffic at major airports world-over has almost reached the saturation point, and depending on the time period, is often over-saturated.
Entering the terminal area at such times may force the aircraft to take routes that are different from the usual routes or vectoring provided by the controllers. The pilots are also often required to make many changes in heading, altitude and airspeed. At such times, the pilots must determine the position of the aircraft in relation to the normal flight path and airport, centering most of their attention on the navigation instruments and evaluating whether the aircraft is on the required altitude and speed. Projections must be made as to what the next heading will be, at what altitude the aircraft must descend to, and whether sufficient speed reduction is possible. In addition, there are the duties of watching out for other traffic and executing other operating in the cockpit. The workload of the pilots reaches a high peak at this time. Since ATC is also overloaded, it would be easy for the pilots to make an ATC error at this time.
The flight engineer, starting with engine indications, monitors the respective systems of the aircraft and if malfunctions occur he is capable of absorbing the extra workload thus preventing the load on the pilots from accummulating. The flight engineer is capable of cross checking the bug values, frequencies, etc. , and monitoring the operations of the pilots from a vantage point that neither of the pilots have. In relation to ATC, the flight engineer can give a different view of the traffic situation providing a valuable backup to the pilots.

(An extraction from a questionaire supporting are three man crew complement)