Flight engineer in the context of "Boeing 307 Stratoliner"

Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke (born March 14, 1967) is an American astronaut and retired United States Air Force colonel. He formerly held the American record for the most time in space (382 days) until it was broken by Scott Kelly on October 16, 2015. Fincke has logged nine spacewalks, totaling 48 hours and 37 minutes of EVA time. He is unique in that six of those spacewalks were in a Russian Orlan spacesuit. Before his next launch, Fincke has been certified as a pilot for both Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon, as well as a co-pilot/flight engineer on the Soyuz and a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle.

Fincke was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but considers its suburb Emsworth to be his hometown. He is a retired United States Air Force officer and an active NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of three long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer on Expedition 9, as commander of Expedition 18, and as a flight engineer on Expedition 73 and commander of Expedition 74, as well as one Space Shuttle mission, STS-134, as a mission specialist. Fincke is conversant in Japanese and Russian. He is married to Renita Saikia, and together, they have three children: son Chandra and daughters Tarali and Surya.

An aircraft pilot, or aviator, is an individual who controls an aircraft's flight by operating its directional controls. Other aircrew members, such as navigators and flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they assist in operating the aircraft’s navigation and engine systems. Aircrew members like drone operators, flight attendants, mechanics, and ground crew are not classified as aviators.

To recognize pilots' qualifications and responsibilities, most militaries and many airlines around the world award aviator badges to their pilots.

A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features an array of electronic (digital) flight instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, rather than traditional analog dials and gauges. While a traditional cockpit relies on numerous mechanical gauges (nicknamed "steam gauges") to display information, a glass cockpit uses several multi-function displays and a primary flight display driven by flight management systems, that can be adjusted to show flight information as needed. This simplifies aircraft operation and navigation and allows pilots to focus only on the most pertinent information. They are also popular with airline companies as they usually eliminate the need for a flight engineer, saving costs. In recent years the technology has also become widely available in small aircraft.

As aircraft displays have modernized, the sensors that feed them have modernized as well. Traditional gyroscopic flight instruments have been replaced by electronic attitude and heading reference systems (AHRS) and air data computers (ADCs), improving reliability and reducing cost and maintenance. GPS receivers are usually integrated into glass cockpits.

The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, as an advanced version of the original Boeing 747.The model was first introduced as the Advanced Series 300 was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targeting a 10% cost reduction with more efficient engines and 1,000 nautical miles [nmi] (1,900 km; 1,200 mi). Northwest Airlines became the launch customer with an order for ten aircraft on October 22, 1985. The first 747-400 was rolled out on January 26, 1988, made its maiden flight on April 29, 1988, received type certification on January 9, 1989, and entered service with Northwest a month later on February 9, 1989.

It retains the 747 airframe, including the 747-300 stretched upper deck, with 6-foot (1.8 m) winglets. The 747-400 offers a choice of improved turbofans: the Pratt & Whitney PW4000, General Electric CF6-80C2 or Rolls-Royce RB211-524G/H. Its two-crew glass cockpit dispenses with the need for a flight engineer. It typically accommodates 416 passengers in a three-class layout over a 7,285 nmi (13,492 km; 8,383 mi) range with its 875,000-pound (397 t) maximum takeoff weight (MTOW).

Maksim Viktorovich Surayev (Russian: Максим Викторович Сураев, born 24 May 1972) is a Russian politician and retired cosmonaut.

Surayev was a backup crew member for ISS Expeditions 17 and 19 from 2006 to 2009. In 2009, he commanded a spacecraft that traveled to the International Space Station where he served as flight engineer for 167 days, returning in 2010. Surayev also served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station as a member of the crew of Expedition 22, and flight engineer and expedition commander of Expeditions 40 and 41. In his career, Surayev made two spacewalks, one in 2010 with fellow cosmonaut Oleg Kotov which lasted 5 hours and 44 minutes and again in 2014 with Aleksandr Samokutyaev in a spacewalk that lasted 3 hours and 38 minutes.