Ytdyklly

I know the co-pilot sits beside the pilot. But it's not clear for me, who is the captain and who is the first officer?

And where they are sitting during the flight? Who is in right seat and who is in left seat, and probably who will seat behind the front seats for an aircraft with more than two flight crew?

Capt left, 1st officer or copilot right. On older airlines with a flight engineer, he is behind and is called 2nd officer.

It's the same as a ship. Capt is boss, 1st officer is second in command, 2nd officer if on board is 3rd in command.

Capt always starts the engines and taxis the airplane since most airliners only have a steering tiller on the left, and FO usually handles radios and checklists, FMS programming etc when on the ground. FO, if it's his/her turn to fly, only controls the airplane from the start of the takeoff roll until completion of the landing roll.

On a pairing (sequence of trips over 2 or 3 or 4 days), capt and FO normally alternate on each leg of the trip as pilot flying with the other as pilot monitoring. But as I said, if FO is PF for a particular leg, he/she will still do the radios until the start of the takeoff roll, then takes control of thrust and stick once the capt has lined up, upon which capt looks after comms/FMS/button pushing, until completion of the landing roll, when the FO hands control of the airplane back to the capt and the FO (who only has rudder pedal steering and can't make sharp turns) takes over the radios again.

On an older airliner with a Flight Engineer/Second Officer, that person is type rated on the aircraft as a pilot but never actually flies the plane until he/she moves up to right seat as FO. So in the old 3 crew days a new pilot would be hired as a Flight Engineer in an airline with only 3 crew aircraft and might go several years in the 3rd seat before actually flying the plane, or if upgrading from 2 crew to 3 crew in the same airline.

Up until the 60s you also sometimes had a 4th crew, a Navigator. Don't think there were any Navigators left by 1970.

The titles of Captain and First Officer designate who has final authority during the flight. Ultimately, a Captain may make critical decisions regarding the flight. In practice and ideally, the Captain and FO will work collaboratively, and there won't be a need to "pull rank".

The terms Pilot and Co-Pilot are actually rarely used in commercial aviation anymore. Instead, the terms "Pilot Flying" (PF) and "Pilot Monitoring" (PM) are used to designate who has actual hands on the controls, and who is overseeing the flight and providing guidance. The PM also typically handles tasks like radio traffic or setting up the computer (FMS) with proper settings.

In aircraft,they must have a nominated pilot who is the incharge of the aircraft, this pilot is the Captain. A newly qualified airline or private jet pilot is allocated the rank of “First Officer” then later “Senior First Officer” before they take a “Command Course” after which they can become a Captain.

The first officer is the second pilot (also referred to as the co-pilot) of an aircraft. The first officer is second-in-command of the aircraft to the captain, who is the legal commander. In the event of incapacitation of the captain, the first officer will assume command of the aircraft.

1. Job... Pilot flies the airplane, co-pilot helps by doing radios and knobs and switches. Can sit in either seat.
   




2. Rank... Captain is usually the senior person of the two, and is basically the decision-maker. Is seen as a more prestigious and higher-paid job then First Officer. Conventionally sits on the left (but there is no legal requirement for this). Thye Captain is also the 'commander' of the airplane, which is a legal position for "if it goes wrong, the buck stops here".

When entering the cockpit:
Captain - Left - Experienced

FO - Right - Less Experienced - e.g. Assisting with radio/comms/ while TO pulling up the Landing Gear etc.