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In the 727, if there was a commotion in the cabin, or in cargo ops a strange noise or thump or bang coming from the back it was very reassuring to turn around and ask the FE to "Go back there and see what's going on".
Can't do that on a 2 crew A/C..."
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Of course you can! It should even be the first thing you do.
So now we’re back to the one pilot philosophy again ?
I certainly wouldn’t send one member of a 2-pilot crew ‘down the back’ to investigate anything – suppose he never came back ? I say again, we started with a steward on the 707 freighter, even with a 4 man crew, but eventually lost him to the Bean Counters.
I had an occasion when we felt heavy vibration, cabin crew on the Intercom said a wing panel had blown off, passengers looking through to the ground. I refused to send either the F/O or F/E off the flight deck, all might have been necessary to deal with handling, comms, pressurisation, problems – whatever - that we thought might occur, but we had a supernumary F/O so he went back.
It was almost a non-event, Boeings even said it was not necessary for me to have returned to land as the 747 could fly with a hole 9 feet by 2 feet ( ? memory ?) in that area – my Manager asked what was I supposed to have done, got out and measured it ? Tough, I was back on the ground - but I was still glad the spare guy was on board.
We might eventually know if a third crew member in the DXB case would only have been a saviour or a third casualty, but IMHO that’s not the point.
Alone on the flight deck of a stricken aircraft, can you be sure that 'The Computer' will always be there as your willing helper? My experience is that they fail just when you need them most. ( cynic ? wot me ? )
However, it ain't going to be my problem ever again, it's your ....... ( was going to say funeral - complete to suit ! )