Persons employed by the air operator primarily for the purpose of exercising the privileges of an FAA flight navigator certificate issued under FAR 63, Subpart C.
Flight navigators are responsible for locating the position of an aircraft and direct its course on domestic and international flights, using navigational aids.
Flight navigator is a position on older aircraft, typically between the late-1910s and the 1970s, where separate crew members were often responsible for the flight navigation, including its dead reckoning and celestial navigation, especially when flown over oceans or other featureless areas where radio navigation aids were not originally available. As sophisticated electronic air navigation aids and universal space-based GPS navigation systems came online, the dedicated Navigator’s position was discontinued and its function was assumed by dual-licensed Pilot-Navigators, and still later by the aircraft’s primary pilots (Captain and First Officer), resulting in a continued downsizing in the number of aircrew positions on commercial flights. Modern electronic navigation systems made the navigator redundant by the early 1980s.