The trouble with F.Nose and those like him who ridicule the idea of the FA standing in is that they keep quoting the million to one chance against a FA on the FD policy and choose to ignore the rest of the time when the system works just fine. During their flying career these individuals may just discover that their life depends on a lot less than a million to one chance at times. Once out of the safe environment of European/Antipodean ATC the game is on.