Originally Posted by
Lalo37
I'm probably gonna get banned for this but here it goes......I hope I explain it good enough so that I dont get banned:
I HATE how the FO is getting thrown in as "the rest of the crew"...Excuse me???? But FO's are not "the rest of the crew". We fly the plane and are just as qualified as the Captain......probably less experienced but if given the opportunity we can do as good of a job as the Captain in flying an aircraft. That FO should not be thrown in as just "the rest of the crew"....Our job (Pilots) takes a heck of a lot more technical and mental training than to walk up and down an aisle and serve drinks and tell people to turn their phones off.
We all see your point and I'm sure we'll all agree that the F/O is an integral part of the Flight Crew, and not part of the "Cabin Crew." I don't think anyone was trying to present it any other way. That said however, there usually is a difference in aggregate flying knowledge between your senior Captain and your mid-seniority First Officer. If an f/o hasn't checked out as a captain, there's a good chance that if he tried to act as the captain, he'd fall short, if for no other reason, than there would be a number of details he would possibly miss, not so much the "flying the plane details", but more the planning type details. That's not to say that this particular f/o couldn't have done as good a job, but since he relinquished the flying duties upon being directed to by the Captain, we'll really never know. But in our industry, we can take solace in the fact that we all know what went on and that both front end guys did great.
JJ