If the crew had never had a 3rd person involved in a sim setting is it a possibility that the unexpected distraction of that additional voice and potential trouble shooting interaction created enough confusion to lead to a sudden upset or undertake a course of action outside of the preflight brief? I'm wondering if the tech might have asked them to reengage the AP at some point for example?
Originally Posted by
JulioLS
The data from flight radar (with all the normal caveats) suggests that they never had control of the aircraft.... But your point about the added distraction of an engineer is well made.
Could someone who knows the regulation and actual practice comment on the allowed role of a flying spanner?
Seems sensible to me that on a revenue flight they should have no input unless an emergency is recognized in which case one of course one would use whatever resources seems appropriate.
Attempting to debug a possible intermittent problem while carrying passengers should be way outside the permitted realm.
I am not a pilot but have plenty of experience with 'group debugging' which is almost always less efficient than a single concentrating person, perhaps with some 'spare hands' turning knobs or holding probes but otherwise staying out of the thought process.