It seems most likely,finally, that the Pf was indeed the least experienced f/o ,in the rhs (frozen atpl)
Camel:
This leaves the other f/o as pnf in the lhs.acting as 'commander' in the absence of the captain.with all the responsibilities that involves.
it seems pretty clear that he had had no training whatsoever in sorting out problems of this magnitude,especially from the lhs.probably never ever had to recover from a fully developed stall at high level in the sim .
how can this be ? something is seriously amiss here ,in the training department?
In my company the pilot in charge to replace the Captain's functions is the Senior F/O and his assigned position in the cockpit is CM2 (RHS). He is the Pilot Flying for the time the Captain is not on his seat. The "second" First/Officer will seat on the LHS to perform PNF actions, i.e., comms, papers and assistance to the PF. The "second" First/Officer is trained to execute several maneuvers (Emmergency Descent, Engine Failures, etc.) in order to be able to cope with any situation arising at a time when the First Officer may be absent for physiological reasons. He is otherwise
never the pilot flying.
In the case of Air France, I am not sure of the practice or company policy, but I am sure they will have it written in their OM. (Remember that the word bureaucracy comes from a French word
bureaucratie)
I tend to believe that the Pilot Flying would be the Senior First Officer and that he would be seated on his "natural", "most used to" RHS. Otherwise, I would say that, AF would have to change its policies.