Definition
Persons assigned to duty in an aircraft during flight time who are essential to its operation, including the pilot, copilot, and (when carried) flight engineer and flight navigator. Cabin crew such as flight attendants are not flight crewmembers under this definition.
Plain English
The people in the cockpit whose job is to actually fly and operate the aircraft.
Context Anchor
In the Sterile Flight Deck Rule, this term identifies the people on the flight deck who must avoid nonessential activities during taxi, takeoff, landing, and other high-workload phases.
Why Pilots Care
Determines exactly who must stay focused and avoid distractions during critical phases to maintain safety.
Intuition Check
Do not read flight crewmembers as everyone employed on the flight. In this FAA context, it means the people assigned to operate the aircraft from the flight deck.
Example Sentence 1
During taxi, takeoff, and landing, flight crewmembers must limit their conversation to topics directly related to operating the aircraft.
Example Sentence 2
Only flight crewmembers are permitted to discuss checklist items during the approach.