I have followed the debate on this thread with some interest, albeit as slf, as I was on board a 744 that went down to 3 (or maybe 2) engines a little while ago.
It seems to me though that all the debate about were the crew right or wrong is totaly irrelevant. The first question that has to be answered is surely "did the crew follow the relevant SOPS, etc" If they did, then they must, presumably, be blameless. If they didn't, they I would expect a large book to be thrown at them.
If they did follow the rules, then the debate hinges on "are the rules correct?" and I would presume that as the rules have been around for a while without seeming to cause major mishap, they must be by and large correct.
All the people who want to criticise the crew for carrying on presumably should actually be criticising the rule book, and campaigning to get it changed.
Do I make sense?
