Captains flying with Captains - Cockpit Authority Gradient
I would like to get some opinions on the situation when a Captain is rostered to fly with a colleague who also a company Captain. On the day, one pilot is rostered as Captain, while the colleague is rostered as First Officer. Both are qualified and current for both seats.
When the roster calls for the ‘more experienced’ Captain (say, judged by a balance of more years aviation and in the company, larger total time, more time on type etc etc) to be assigned the Left Hand Seat, I would say the authority gradient is correct. But when the situation is reversed, (i.e., the more experienced Captain sits Right Hand Seat and is acting First Officer), the authority gradient slopes the wrong way.
This ‘reversed’ authority gradient might work just fine for normal Ops, especially where the more experienced pilot sitting right has adequate respect for his colleague’s Command. But could the situation change if there was an emergency or abnormal? The pilot in the Right Hand Seat might instinctively try take over Command, since he/she has always viewed himself/herself as being “more senior” and thus subconsciously in Command?
This attempted Command reversal could play havoc with the mechanics of resolving the emergency or abnormal situation, as well as place the assigned Captain in a possible compromising situation.
I am interested to hear views particularly from the larger airline sector.