Year 2010. Atlantic pilot twists ankle falling off Electra ladder. PPRuNe bombarded with claims that had there been a F/E, he would have prevented this accident.
When will this ridiculous argument end?
For those of you interested in facts, and I suspect that is not too many, here goes.
The Captain at the Prestwick incident holds a current FE License with TRE authority and the student under training was an Electra FE sponsored through pilot training by Atlantic at the two crew changeover.
Engineer, does your pre-flight include inspecting the inside of the oleo leg?
Freightdoggy. The Captain de-boosts the Electra by leaning down and pulling the handles with his right hand. If anything, the handles are nearer the Captain than the FE's seat. We don't find it too taxing!
As for the 'kids' at Atlantic, recent examples now work for BA, Virgin, Cathay, Monarch, Britannia, JMC, Sabena, Easyjet, Atlas, Air Contractors, Brymon, BEA, BRAL, GBAirways and British Midland. If you have a problem with these pilots, I suggest you fly Ryanair, because that's about the only place you won't find an Atlantic graduate.
Never2Low, your incapacitation point applies to any two crew operation, but it is covered annually in training and presents few problems. As we are all just 'kids', we are far less likely to keel over and have a coronary in the first place.
Finally, Thank you CRX for your support. It's nice to see someone hase more brains than opinions.