Semaphore Sam
My total sympathy is with the Captain, but, in this circumstance, his mental state, sadly, seems to have been...less than optimum? A diversion, in this circumstance, seems totally unjustified...and to those pilots justifying martinet behavior, in the name of pilot solidarity, again, sadly, you undermine the profession. I am open to more evidence in the Captain's favour, but, in this case, a diversion seems beyond the pale. I beg for mitigating evidence.
I see an experienced captain who felt the flight could not safely continue and willingly risking his judgement being called into question with a diversion to sort a problem out! We don't know the processes going on in his mind- remember we are only getting one extremely biased account. But without doubt- when you 'lose' a crew, through their fault or your own, there is a point where you had better stop travelling at 500kts
without delay! I've only once lost it with a totally unco-operative and bizarre co-pilot. I nearly grounded him from a 737 at Basle, but I gave him the chance to redeem himself, which he did subsequently. But in effect, I endorsed him for another chance. That was my prerogative.
The credibility of the whole crew subsequently falls down with their unanimous decision to continue under his command. It goes no deeper than that. Once they get to their final destination, suddenly the captain in not 'fit for command'? They lost all credibility continuing, and their dreadful attacks on him since have no depth whatsoever. A sad, sad affair, but it speaks volumes for the state of CRM and flight deck/cabin crew relationships in this airline.