Folks,
Re. BEA, a similar thing happened in Qantas in the B707 days, late '60's. A flight planner had the temerity to order the fuel, and finalize the commercial load before the Captain even signed on. Some time after sign-on the Captain could not be found, he was eventually located back home.
His statement, "as somebody else had finalized the flight plan, he "reasonably" assumed he had been replaced as the Captain".
After the resulting furor, no flight planner tried that again, or ever attempted to usurp the legal authority of the pilot in command.
Of course, in recent years, there has been huge pressure on fuel usage, we just have to live with that.
The BEA story (true) goes back to about 1962, and a Guardsvan. An old mate of mine was one of the two F/Os, he dined out on the story for months.
Captain??? Bloggs,
What is it that you don't understand about CARs 224/233/234 etc. Or do you abrogate your legal responsibilities (assuming you are, in fact, a Captain) in the face of management pressure that is part and parcel of the job of any pilot in command.
For non-AU readers, CAR 224 is the legal basis for the authority of the pilot in command for a VH- aircraft. In a few more words, CAR 224 says the same thing as ICAO, or FAR 91.3. The others regs. quoted are about pre-flight preparation and fuel requirements.
A general comment --- if there is any basis in fact about the statement nominating QATAR (the new owners of Harrods) that will make the next IOSA audit for their national carrier interesting.
Tootle pip!!