The film was recorded in January 2000, onboard an Airtours A330-200, flying from Manchester to Orlando Sandford. The sector safe was 2800’ and they were at 5000'.
It seems that the general consensus is that the RA should have been followed, regardless of what the pilots could see.
The captain chose not to follow the RA, is it likely that Airtours procedures allowed that in January 2000?
My real purpose in asking this question is to find out what the first officer should have done about it. The 320 captain that I know says if he were the FO he would have taken control and followed the RA. Obviously that could cause some friction down line. In the Airtours case the first officer had just completed his CCQ course and he was on his first trip to North America with the chief training captain. That would obviously make it even harder for the FO to take control if he felt they should have descended. With the timescales involved in a TCAS RA there is no time to discuss this matter so taking control would appear to be the only option if the FO was not happy.
I'm not trying to have a go at anyone concerned, I'm just trying to work out what I would do if I find myself in the same situation.
I’d also be interested to know if any FO’s have actual experience of taking control when the captain was PF.
Thanks
SW