There are three parts to this thread, all with simple answers, why the need to be contentious is beyond me. (MNSHO is that the "questions" being answered are not clear in several of the answers/posts)... Nothing wrong with good old fashioned debate or even a question about what you would or should do in this situation, just be clear.
1. Is it appropriate for a pilot decide to land a 2 crew commercial jet on their own?
2.
In this occurence, did the PIC (in this case the captain) make an appropriate decision to have a "third party" (non cockpit crew) assist him to safely land the aircraft?
3. Was the thread title appropriate?
Suggested answers below (and I don't think my non-ATPL status should affect your appreciation of my answers - see below), only logic should, which is not the sole purview of commercial pilots (and neither are the tenants of CRM))
1. Dave Sanders, Captain of
Fedex Flight 705 managed to land the aircraft after he had his head bashed in with a hammer; I think this (as well a lot of the other posts in this thread) proves that this is viable, leading us to question 2.
2. The aircraft landed safely, without incident (the conversations on this thread, and the co-pilots situation aside).
In all the CRM discussions being banded about on this thread, PIC gets to decide what is an emergency situations (he/she will no doubt need to back it up later on the ground), and once in such situation what calls to make to ensure the safety of aircraft, crew, passengers, cargo, daisy the cow minding her own business on the ground, and anyone/thing else left out at risk in no particular order).
In this case, it was decided to use the assistance of a CPL qualified crew member, which hopefully we can all agree worked out well, with the exception of the panic it caused PPRune pilots who's sensitivities were injured in the ensuing aftermath of 20/20 hindsight.
3. My summation is that it was an attempt at humor, with an aim of provoking attention. By the amount of responses and views one would argue it was a succesful attempt. (I personally quite appreciated it!
)
Now I trust we could get back to some good old fashioned gossip^H^H^H^Hrumours and news (and a bit of humorous banter in between)
And for those upset by my (and other posters in this thread) none ATPL status, I didn't realize that Rumours and News or posting on pprune were certification categories in the ATPL exams.
