"Just learned today that the co-pilot was in fact the Chief Pilot. Wonder what, if any, human factors may have played a role. Have seen the problems in the past of two captains, two check and trainers, chief pilot as co-pilot flying together."
This is not unusual in small two crew operations. Good CRM training should render this quote as immaterial to the incident, however, that is assuming good CRM practices were evident in this case which I am not entirely sure were. Apart from the other pilot, there are also two tech crew members that all play a pivotal part in the CRM mix.