should she be given a pilot job?no
No. There are tens of thousands of pilots who are more qualified than she is. 300 hours , 20 years ago isn't much as we all know.
I do think it would be quite nice of American Airlines to pay off her mortgage, or do something ''nice'' for her. Even offer her a free type rating on top of the mortgage thing.
Did the captain do right? Sure.
The big question is, why did the copilot get sick? Was he sick before the trip and was afraid to call in sick?
I know one bizare situation in which the female captain, just under 6 months pregnant, did one more flight...and ended up on the cabin floor with dozens of blankets and being rushed to a hospital on landing...baby related of course. She was about one day from the cutoff for pregnant pilots being grounded.
A deadheading captain came up to the cockpit...though it brings another interesting question...who was in command? Legally, I would think the FO was, the captain being incapacitated...but one could argue that the other captain took over...but I digress.
This is a non event and shouldn't have found its way into the national headlines.
She didn't have her hand on the wheel for landing, did she?