just my 2 cents worth....
I am 100% behind the comments of "411A" here, why oh why have we gone this way, it's proving inept time and time again! (even the original idea for the change has been proven rubbish!).
Yeah...I know...all the pilots will come back in a gigantic wave telling me they don't need a professional Flight Engineer, he's not needed, we can do it all ourselves.
BUT...it's being demonstrated time and time again that 'when everything's fine, everything's fine", but when you REALLY need instant technical expertise/another set of eyes, right there in the flight deck, the PFE is being missed sorely!
This is simply another example of that, one that seriously could have ended very, very badly!
I normally say "Cheers" at this point, but I don't think it's appropriate in this environment!
FD
