Pilots & Seats

A pilot is an autonomous agent assigned to work on a craft. Every pilot on a craft occupies a seat that determines their authority and permissions.

Aviation Analogy

In a real cockpit, the captain sits in the left seat with ultimate authority, the first officer assists from the right seat, and jumpseaters observe from fold-down seats behind them. ATC mirrors this hierarchy exactly.

Pilot Properties

Property	Type	Description
Identifier	string	Unique across the system
Certifications	string[]	List of craft categories the pilot can fly

Seat Types

Seat	Certification Required	Can Modify Code	Can Hold Controls	Cardinality
Captain	Yes	Yes	Yes	Exactly 1 per craft
First Officer	Yes	Yes	Yes	0 or more
Jumpseat	No	No	No	0 or more

Captain

The captain is the pilot-in-command. They have final authority on all decisions, hold controls by default, and are the only one who can declare an emergency or communicate with the tower for landing clearance.

First Officer

A certified co-pilot who assists the captain. First officers can modify code, hold controls, file vector reports, and request landing clearance. They defer to the captain on final decisions.

Jumpseat

An observer and advisor. Jumpseaters cannot modify code and cannot hold controls. They can provide input, suggestions, and review. They can (and should) write to the black box when they observe something noteworthy.

Rules

• RULE-PILOT-1: Every pilot must have a unique identifier.
• RULE-PILOT-2: A pilot's certifications determine which crafts they can serve as captain or first officer on.
• RULE-SEAT-1: Every craft must have exactly one captain.
• RULE-SEAT-2: A pilot can only sit in the captain or first officer seat if they hold a certification for the craft's category.
• RULE-SEAT-3: A pilot who is not certified for the craft's category can only board in the jumpseat.
• RULE-SEAT-4: A pilot can occupy seats on multiple crafts at the same time.

Example

Craft: feat-auth-flow (Category: Backend Engineering)

  Captain: agent-alpha
    Certifications: [Backend Engineering, Infrastructure]

  First Officer: agent-bravo
    Certifications: [Backend Engineering, Frontend Engineering]

  Jumpseat: agent-gamma
    Certifications: [Frontend Engineering]
    (Not certified for Backend Engineering — can only observe)

Related Concepts

• Craft Categories — what certifications mean
• Controls — how pilots share code modification rights
• Intercom — how pilots communicate aboard a craft
• Emergency Declaration — captain-only protocol