Multi-Crew Cooperation (MCC) and Jet Orientation Courses

Multi-crew cooperation (MCC) is the functioning of the flight crew as a team of cooperating members led by the pilot in command. The MCC course is where a pilot who has trained almost entirely alone, from the first solo to the commercial pilot licence and the instrument rating, learns to operate as one of two pilots: to fly while the other monitors, to monitor while the other flies, and to brief, call out, cross-check and share the work of an abnormal situation.

Part-FCL requires MCC training before a pilot exercises privileges in multi-pilot aeroplanes, so in Europe the course stands between the licence and the first airline type rating. Some airlines also ask for a particular form of it, the more demanding APS MCC, or for a jet orientation course (JOC) that introduces jet handling. The FAA has no equivalent course; its nearest counterpart is described below.

Why MCC training exists

Almost everything in a commercial pilot's training up to the licence is flown single-pilot, even in a multi-engine aeroplane. The airline flight deck works differently. Duties are split between the pilot flying (PF) and the pilot monitoring (PM), actions follow standard operating procedures, checks are made aloud, and each pilot monitors the other. Habits that serve a single pilot well, such as deciding silently and acting at once, can confuse or exclude a second pilot.

The need was learned the hard way. Investigators in the 1970s, at Tenerife and in the fuel exhaustion of United Airlines Flight 173 among other cases, found serviceable aircraft flown by competent pilots whose crews failed to communicate, challenge or manage their workload, and crew resource management grew out of those findings. The MCC course is where CRM stops being a classroom subject. The trainee practises it in a simulator, in normal and abnormal operations, before meeting it again in a type rating course that brings its own heavy workload.

When MCC is required

Under Part-FCL a multi-pilot aeroplane is one certificated for operation with a minimum crew of at least two pilots, such as the A320 family or the 737. MCC training is required before a pilot exercises privileges in one, which in practice means:

• Before the first multi-pilot type rating, or combined with it. The course is usually taken after the CPL(A) and the multi-engine instrument rating; an ATO may also combine it with a type rating course. The advanced upset prevention and recovery training course of FCL.745.A, flown in an aeroplane, has also been required before a first multi-pilot type rating since 20 December 2019 (see upset prevention and recovery).
• For the ATPL(A). A CPL holder applying for the ATPL(A) must have received instruction in MCC, because the ATPL skill test is flown in a multi-pilot aeroplane. A CPL holder with a multi-engine IR and the ATPL theory examinations passed is informally said to hold a frozen ATPL; with MCC training and a type rating, such a pilot can fly as co-pilot and build the 1,500 hours the ATPL requires on the line (see commercial and airline transport pilot licences).
• Not separately on the MPL route. A multi-crew pilot licence course trains the student in a multi-crew environment from an early stage and includes the equivalent training.

Two-pilot operation is not limited to multi-pilot aeroplanes. European commercial air transport rules require two pilots for IFR or night operations in turboprops with a maximum operational passenger seating configuration of more than nine, and in all turbojets, whatever their certification, so crews of some single-pilot types also work as a multi-pilot crew (see pilot in command and flight crew composition).

The FAA has no MCC course or certificate. Its nearest counterpart is the ATP Certification Training Program (ATP-CTP) of 14 CFR 61.156, required before the ATP multi-engine knowledge test: at least 30 hours of academic training, covering among other subjects air carrier operations, leadership and professional development, crew resource management and safety culture, and 10 hours of simulator training, 6 of them in a Level C or higher full flight simulator of a multi-engine turbine aeroplane of at least 40,000 lb. US airlines then train crew coordination in the CRM programmes required of Part 121 operators.

Theoretical knowledge and practical training

An MCC course is run by an approved training organisation (ATO) and has two parts. Theoretical knowledge instruction covers the human factors of crew work and the procedures that make it predictable. Practical training takes place in a flight simulation training device qualified for MCC: a full flight simulator or an FNPT II MCC, the version of the type II flight and navigation procedures trainer equipped for two-crew training (see flight simulation training devices). FCL.735.A sets minimum hours for each part, and its acceptable means of compliance describe the syllabus.

Trainees normally train in pairs and swap seats, flying each exercise as PF and as PM, so that every scenario is seen from both sides. Instruction is given by instructors qualified for it; Part-FCL has a dedicated category, the multi-crew cooperation instructor (MCCI). When the course is complete the ATO issues a certificate of completion (FCL.735.A), unless the course was combined with a type rating course, and airlines that recruit pilots without a type rating ask to see it.

Course content

The theoretical part covers:

• CRM and threat and error management: communication, leadership and teamwork, situation awareness, decision making and workload management;
• the PF and PM roles and the transfer of control;
• standard operating procedures, flows, checklists and standard callouts;
• briefings, including the take-off and approach briefings;
• the management of automation on a two-pilot flight deck (see flight deck automation).

The practical part applies them in complete flights, from preparation and engine start to shutdown, first in normal operations and then with abnormal and emergency procedures. Typical exercises are:

Each session ends with a debriefing that looks at how the crew worked as much as at what the aeroplane did, as after line-oriented flight training.

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APS MCC

The airline pilot standards MCC (APS MCC) is an enhanced form of the course, described in EASA's AMC2 FCL.735.A. Its aim is to give the trainee the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to start type rating training at the standard that commercial air transport operators generally require. Compared with the standard course it is longer: it adds advanced training on a swept-wing jet and advanced airline operations scenarios, and it ends with a final assessment.

Airline requirements decide its value. At the time of writing, Ryanair's published cadet requirements accept only an APS MCC certificate, stating that standard MCC and combined MCC and jet orientation certificates are no longer accepted, and Icelandair asks direct-entry first officers for APS MCC. Other airlines still ask simply for an MCC certificate.

Jet orientation courses

A jet orientation course (JOC) is a short simulator course that introduces a pilot from piston or turboprop training to the handling of a jet transport aeroplane. It is not a licensing requirement. Training providers offer it, often combined with MCC as an MCC/JOC course, because airlines value it and because airline simulator assessments are often flown in a simulator of a jet by candidates who have never flown the type (see airline simulator assessment).

A JOC typically covers:

• Speed and momentum. Everything happens faster, so descents, configuration changes and decisions must start earlier.
• Energy management. A clean jet is slow to lose speed and height at the same time, which makes descent planning critical (see climb and descent planning).
• Engine response. A high-bypass engine takes seconds to spool up from idle, so thrust must be anticipated, not snatched (see thrust levers, idle modes and engine handling).
• Swept-wing and high-altitude flight. Handling qualities differ, and the margin between low-speed and high-speed limits narrows with altitude (see buffet boundaries and maximum altitude).
• Automation. The autopilot, autothrust and FMS, and the appropriate level of automation for each phase.

Airlines treat the JOC in different ways. Emirates includes MCC and a jet orientation course in the flight training phase of its cadet programme, and Wizz Air asks experienced first officers without a type rating for a JOC or a jet APS MCC, waived for pilots who have flown a jet or hold a jet type rating.

Choosing a course

A few questions settle most choices:

• What do the target airlines ask for? Requirements differ and change: some accept any MCC, some only APS MCC, others a JOC or a jet APS MCC. Checking before paying avoids repeating a course.
• Which device and type? Training in a simulator of a type the airlines fly, such as the A320 or the 737, may transfer more directly to an assessment and a type rating than a generic device.
• When? Crew skills fade without use, so the course is best taken shortly before applications and assessments. The advanced UPRT course is often completed around the same time, since both are needed for the first multi-pilot type rating.

Preparation pays. A trainee who arrives knowing the course's SOPs, flows and callouts spends the simulator time on cooperation rather than on reading checklists, and the same habits carry into the airline simulator assessment and the type rating.

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.