It takes a lot of people in management roles to ensure an airline functions properly. For pilots, their most visible administrator on a day-to-day basis is their chief pilot. This article will briefly define a chief pilot and their role.
What is a chief pilot?
A chief pilot is a captain who works for the airline's management team. A chief pilot is usually type rated and current on one of the aircraft that their airline flies, but this isn't always the case. Some chief pilots are beyond the mandatory retirement age of 65, and others are medically exempt from flying. Regardless of their current operational status, a chief pilot has flown the line as a captain at some point in their career.
As an aside, first officers can work in administrative roles within an airline. Such functions include technical pilots, recruiters, or staff within the chief pilot's office. However, the chief pilot's position is reserved for pilots who are, or have been, captains.
The title of chief pilot has different responsibilities and purviews depending on the airline. Smaller airlines have one chief pilot, while larger companies have a chief pilot for every one of their base cities. A significant component of operating a domicile in a hub airport is maintaining a chief pilot's office or CPO. The CPO's leader is the chief pilot, and they oversee a staff of administrators and augmenting support staff comprised of pilots and other non-flying employees. The chief pilot is responsible for distributing important information to line pilots, handling personal and non-standard requests, and managing all the pilots based in that domicile.
The CPO
Support staff help the chief pilot with many of the aforementioned day-to-day administration. Chief pilots are tasked with disciplining pilots, who they usually oversee. The most common pilot disciplinary misstep is tardiness or missed assignments (though this happens infrequently). Pilots are summoned to the CPO to explain what happens when they miss an assignment. From there, the chief pilot determines the disciplinary action to be taken.
The chief pilot's office contains many resources for pilots and flight attendants. Most CPOs are contained within a larger space at the airport allocated for flight crews to relax while separated from the traveling public during layovers or after arriving for work early. Spare electronic flight bags, uniforms, paper forms, and many other resources are available for pilots. Most CPOs also have computers to connect to the airline's internal servers and, essential to pilots and flight attendants, coffee.
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Chief pilots are managerial, but those who can fly occasionally pick up trips to remain current and qualified. Flying with a chief pilot is a unique experience for first officers who usually work with line-flying colleagues, and the perspectives that chief pilots have as a benefit of their expertise are invaluable to their junior colleagues. Being a chief pilot is unique. It's one of the few ways to maintain a "pilot" title at an airline past age 65, and the role is an interesting mix of administrative and standard obligations.