Company detective supplies many relief aviators (8)

I believe the answer is:

copilots

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'aviators' is the definition.
(I know this)

'company detective supplies many relief' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'company' could be 'co' (abbreviation) and 'co' is located in the answer.
'detective' could be 'pi' (short for private investigator) and 'pi' is present in the answer.
'many' could be 'lots' (lots of something) and 'lots' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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