Originally Posted by
Uplinker
Here is a possible scenario:.........
That's more like it tho my own take is that the whole cockpit environment was a bit more insidious and places a little bit more blame on the FO but maybe helps explain why the FO acted as he did. As follows:-
Autocratic but laid-back Capt sets the scene of "lets wing this flight as usual" right from the Departure Gate and the FO sort of goes along with it as the Capts reputation of bawling out FOs is well known - maybe these 2 have flown on previous occasions - and so "non-standard" is the accepted norm. Indeed, the Capt appears quite amicable on the day as they are reported to be chatting about this and that - but his reputation is there as someone who can "turn"........
The FO, while seemingly playing along with the "lets wing this flight as usual" gets more and more concerned during the approach and finally starts to suggest the hold is the solution to get back on profile - but here the Capt gets annoyed and rejects the hold suggestion from both the FO and ATC and then just takes over.
The FO, by now, is very unhappy and increasingly stressed both at the lack of a hold to sort things out - something he's wanting to do and hence the gear coming up - but, wait, now he's just had control whipped from him....... The Capt has consistently rejected buying time and seems intent on seeing "Plan A" through to it's conclusion and has now made that abundantly clear. After all, he's even said that he'll show ATC what he can do as a skilled aviator!!!! But, because of the way the whole flight has been conducted so far, the Capts not really on top of the aircraft anymore .... hence the gear......
At that point the FO seems to simply enter into a sort of "sod it" mode and what rational thinking he was doing now seems to leave him (certainly WRT remembering the status of the gear). The rest is as we see until the Capt finally realises that it's all gone South as you say.
WRT to the comment that this is the sort of situation FOs need to be able to deal with, I was on a Training Course with several guys from Pakistan - all really nice guys. But, when it came to working scenarios (moving aircraft about on the ground) when we all role-played, there was in their group a "No 1". The guys would consistently turn to this guy for direction even if he was playing a "minion". Whenever the guy who was managing the move issued an instruction - Brit or one of their team - they would immediately look to this guy for his approval. It drove the Instructor nuts as they refused to do otherwise - their No 1 had the final say on everything - end of! That was "the way" and, had I not seen it myself, I'd never have believed it. CRM would have a tough time in breaking down such thinking. But, as I said, a nicer bunch of guys you couldn't find!
Anyway, a thought...... FWIW!
