Shuttle nine Tango--
I did not give any advise to the First Officer, he simply packed his flight kit and walked off the flight at an intermediate stop...the Flight Engineer's only comment at the time was..."wonder what's wrong with this turkey?"Up to this point...he said nothing. It did not help his case that the resulting flight was delayed two hours.
That is why the reaction by the fleet manager was the way it was....a crew member is NOT expected to simply walk off a flight...and expect to keep his job.
Come to think of it...had another copilot "walk off" as well, but this time he told the fleet manager that...."I don't care about company policy, it is my right to smoke on the flight deck". This was in dispatch before the flight commenced. His rather rude comments to the fleet manager resulted in (hardly surprising)... dismissal. If you tweek the tail of the tiger...you get bitten.
Sadly...some guys never learn.
