Dear Green Guard /
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In non-emergency situations, with airlines, the way decisions are made, are not up to the captain, but the operations manager. or whoever is on duty for that position... In the case of KLM, after takeoff, and NLG not retracting, the captain probably advised Amsterdam about the situation and the options available... Amsterdam's decision was "go back" and land...
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If we have any non-emergency problems, we call the operations office in Buenos Aires, and get "the monkey" on their back... Their decision, their responsibility. If I would take a decision, maybe someone in Argentina would tell me (1) why did you not proceed instead of going back...? - or... (2) why did you not call us and ask us before taking your decision...?
xxx
Happy contrails