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- 7 - 9. Moreover, crew complement on large, piston-driven aircraft had most often consisted of a pilot-in-command, a copilot or first officer, and a flight engineer not required to possess either pilot qualifications or an ability to relieve the captain or first officer. This was plainly not a fail-safe crew. 10. The Administrator voiced concern that senior pilots, who had devoted many productive years to the operation of the piston equipment then being phased out, might, during an emergency situation in jet equipment, respond with a "piston" reaction because of a supposed inability to "unlearn" previously acquired habits, with possible dangerous consequences. 11. There are several obvious operational reasons why the considerations deemed significant in 1959 are entitled to little or no weight today. The transition to jet power on the nation's airlines is today nearing completion; most trunk carriers have retired or are now in process of retiring piston equipment. As a result, today's senior jet airline captain who is approaching age 60, like Captain Gitt, has likely served nearly all