As far as my opinion is, I still believe a cockpit crew of 3 is better for departure and arrival, check-list perfomance, extra pair of eyes, and in case of a malfunction... or emergency...
BelArgUSA, there you have it. In my outfit we had both PFEs (Professional Flight Engineers to those that are too young to know of PFEs) and pilots acting as FEs. Now, one thing that was very different from airline operations was that usually all 3 people in the cockpit were captains (government flight operations). Generally, 99% of the time, having 3 captains presented no problems, we all rotated as PIC one week from the next.
In fact on some schedules we would fight over who would get to be the FE. Hell, the pay was the same and all you to do was to sleep, read books and pass gas. However, as you so accurately posted for departures, arrivals and aircraft malfunction, and especially in case of emergencies that third person on the flight deck is very important.
I, as with most of the other pilots, would hand the approach plate back to the FE, if it was a pilot FE, after we had set up for the approach and have them recheck everything and agree with approach briefing. A couple of times mistakes were caught by the FE.
So, my vote is for the 3 person crew.