Third in Command
411A, I have never questioned who is in command. Of course it is, and has to be, the Captain unless he becomes incapacitated, either physically or mentally. My point has been that your comments inferred that only F/O's and F/E's were capable of making mistakes and that only the Captain can save the day. I have not inferred that you personally have made mistakes, but unless you are a robot you are as capable of making a mistake as any other human. Yes, I am a retired senior F/E and I had the pleasure of flying for many years with a multitude of extremely able pilots. I also had the displeasure of flying with a very small number who were not only less than confidence inspiring, but also were a "One man band" which, in my view, is not only unpleasant but at times dangerous. Incidentally, I never gave any thought to being "third-in-command", but rather to being a member of a team able to make a contribution to the conduct of the flight. The Company must have felt that to be the case, they paid us the same rate as the F/O's. Your comment that F/E's are "after the pilots - like it or not" is uncalled for and petty. Mutt, thank you for stating the obvious regarding my not having operated the B747-400. I do however understand the difference between the brakes on the Classic as compared to the -400. My basic argument is, and has been all along, that the use of reverse thrust contributes as much as 20% of the speed reduction effort on a contaminated runway and should be used. That your company has chosen to use 25 Flap and idle reverse as a fuel conservation measure is their choice and in most cases probably very reasonable in terms of cost savings. The unfortunate thing with the QF accident was that nobody ever even considered the use of full reverse and 30 flap, and at least one of the crew had never witnessed a 30 flap/full reverse landing.