As a non-ATC non commercial pilot may I just say one thing. In the past whether flying for business or pleasure it was my habit to ask to visit the flightdeck. It has been my privilege to do so on many occasions with many scheduled carriers and, as I have mentioned elsewhere before, been invited to come back/stay for landings almost everywhere I have flown. There was, however, one incident that bothered me. Not on a Brit carrier. I was returning with my mother from a vacation in Cyprus a few years ago. I had asked and been invited to the flightdeck and asked back for the landing. The aircraft had made initial contact with UK ATC and was given a heading and height to be at by. The captain was an older man, very profession, the co-pilot a younger "demi-god" wearing a gold chain (truly!!). The "demi-god" was responsible for the sector. He set the heading incorrectly, and set the height incorrectly. The captain was reading the airport layout manual to check runways as it was a while since he had flown into UK. The aircraft flew on...and then, having hesitated to interfere I asked "Captain, so how much discretion does an aircraft have to set its own heading/height - is it a matter of degrees either side?". The Captain exclaimed "of course not", looked at the instruments, spoke very intensely in his own language to the co-pilot who made the appropriate adjustments....no-one spoke to ATC and the flight continued.
Having learned to fly in SE England and living in I am extremely aware of how busy this airspace is ... the thought that an airliner could have continued on its merry way on an incorrect course/height was quite enlightening!
I suppose my question/comment is. Everyone is human but...if I hadn't made my (possibly smart-ass) comment, if the Captain hadn't noted the correct data, at what point would ATC have noticed the course deviation? also, at the point the Captain realised the aircraft was on an incorrect heading, should he/co-pilot have contacted ATC to advise of error?
