Can anyone familiar with how work would be assigned on trans-ocean flights comment on whether this would be a typical assignment, given that they were about to fly into the ITCZ?
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The trouble is when a pilot is given "a leg" which is more or less what happened when the second officer was PF after the captain had gone down to have some shut-eye, there seems to be a attitude that as PF he hangs on to the decision making and controls even though the real first officer is more qualified and senior in succession. "My leg" is not carte blanche to be in command unless of course the captain is PF.
Clearly in the Air France case the experienced first officer as PNF should have taken control immediately things went wrong. Of course there was no guarantee the F/O could have saved the aircraft either but the political correctness of "my leg" needs to be examined. In my era the captain would at his discretion offer the F/O a take off and/ or a landing. It was never a case of "your leg" with all that implies. It was always the captain's "leg". Every sector was under the command of the captain and supported by his F/O.
Now it is almost seen as an insult to the first officer if the captain decides to take over control of the F/O's "leg". In the case of the Air France accident it is this politically correct mind-set that may have caused the real first officer to assume the subordinate role as PNF while the second officer lost control of the situation.