Chesty,
And your attitude is both ignorant and presumptuous. Chief.
To start, two points to clear the air:
1. I'm not out to pick a fight. You seem to be a rational, clear thinker. I have agreed many times with most of your posts/statements.
You mention infallible. Why?
2. I used the term "infallible" in a general sense. It was not directed at you personally. So no
ad hominem was intended.
So let's move on with other things.
Inclusion of the word 'knowingly' effectively precludes the presumption of infallibility on the part of the first officer. Maybe I should have used 'deliberately' instead.
Agreed.
Deliberately would have been a better word.
Knowingly permits a "gray area" when the FO:
(1) knowingly allowed the CA to make a mistake, but maybe was held back by some sense of inferiority (that "Assertiveness With Authority" thing, or whatever they call it);
(2) or he just
unknowingly allowed the CA to make the mistake. (Age, experience, et al.)
Early in my aviation career, I was certainly guilty of the first. But I know better these days.
You also presume that I would ignore the protestations of my first officer.
Never said that about you. My original quote was a hypothetical. I'm quite sure that you would listen and respect your FO's concerns.
But I'll address this a little closer further down.
So you think we should allow a deliberately obstructive first officer to remain on the flight deck. A first officer who will deliberately not correct you when you make a mistake.
I hope you can see the difference between a captain who ignores his first officer and a first officer who will deliberately not correct a captain who makes a genuine mistake.
You'll get no argument from me on either point. An FO who deliberately does not correct me before the commission of mistake is a dangerous pilot. And probably will wind up being a dead pilot (i.e., a fatal crash, not by murder.)
So this leads me to my story about the Western Airlines/Mexico City crash in 1979:
According to the full NTSB report, the FO was holding a serious grudge/hatred against that CA. On approach into MEX, the crew was given the ILS 23R, but the captain lined up with 23L (no one knows why). The FO knew full well that RWY was closed for construction (very recently). So he was
deliberately trying to embarrass the CA if he did, indeed, land on 23L.
What the FO did NOT anticipate was heavy construction equipment on RWY 23L.
Oops. 79 dead. All because of a lousy grudge.
Lesson: Cockpits are the last places to be holding grudge and/or ego matches.
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On topic, I fly lots of LH stuff across the Big Waters. There's a time and place for reading. And a time and place for paying attention to the airplane. I think two/three sharp guys/gals in the cockpit can distinguish the two.
Be safe out there!