sky9
37 years, of which 30 years is heavy 3/4 engine Command, and 23,000+ hours, just for the record, with ops in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, and trans Atlantic/Pacific.
You can add to this list exec flying as well as Senior Training Captain (10 years) and fleet management positions.
Oh yes, all the jet transport flying was in two types only, the B707 and Lockheed TriStar.
Not exactly a newby...as clearly you aren't either.
Yes, you are certainly correct in your statement about whether you (or indeed anyone else) could have 'got it right' considering the circumstances on the particular evening in question
but would it not have been a better idea for the Captain to have the First Officer continue with the flying, so he could keep a closer eye on the situation?
I have personally line trained at least 50 First Officers, and have found that nearly all can fly a very accurate ILS or non-precision approach. If they lack any particular skill, it is handling the windshear/strong crosswind types of situations simply because they have not the experience and exposure that the Commander has had.
OK, so this Commander decided to launch off to a destination with very little extra fuel (considering the weather in the general area) for reasons unknown, and decided at TOD to become a one man show.
Doesn't look very reasonable or professional to me.
How about you?
And for those that think that I am being overly critical, just look at the end result of the flight in question.
If this Commander had a bit more concern, extra fuel would have been uplifted, so that more options would have been available, but as it was, he did not, so ended up off the runway.
He, his crew and passengers were very lucky it was not far worse.
This clearly, in my opinion, was an accident that could have been prevented if a more reasonable decision process had been applied.