Rananim:
-CADET AIRLINE PILOTS CAN PICK UP AN ALTIMETER ERROR,fLY AN ILS,DO THE PAPERWORK,HANDLE THE RADIO AND DO ALL OF THE MUNDANE LINE FLYING TASKS.My issue is nothing to do with that.
-However,when a situation develops ,they have neither the confidence,knowledge or airmanship to make any useful contribution,leaving the skipper alone.They can provide perfunctory assistance and that is all.
I see we've gone a bit past eachother. I think that in many cases we've discussed just this mundane day to day operation and how to make it safe. How to pick up on the small things that need to be corrected in a cockpit environment that is plagued by a steep power distance relation. We can never know how one will react to an engine failure, smoke in cabin, engine fire and so on. These are stressful situations and much as you draw all newbies over one comb, I think we can draw some of the more experienced guys over the same.
Certainly, someone who has been subjected to a similar event will be the better pilot, but this is one thing we can't provide in training. We can't expect that all pilots have experienced a dual enginefailure or a fire that can't be extiguished. Therefore, we can only do the next best thing. To make sure that all details deviating from the required track, be corrected. The aim of the game is to keep the operation on the safe side at all times and this is where the ability of the FO to speak up on even small things comes into play.
/LnS