Over recent years we have seen a progressive attempted degradation in the authority of the aircraft Commander almost to the extent that decisions on the flight deck are made by consensus.
The case at hand is a bad example of this, however. If there is any blame for bad CRM in this case it falls squarely on the Capitan and/or the SOP of the company.
The captain also interpreted the feeling as engine asymmetry. Therefore the captain performed an additional engine cross check during the takeoff roll. However, no difference in engine indications was observed. Nor was the cross-check communicated to the first officer who was flying, this was however not mandated either.
So let me get this straight. The PF and the Capt both formed a similar mental model of the take-off. The captain then got additional information that changed his mental model of the take-off and never informed the PF of this. And that's OK with everyone because the Capt is the boss and who the hell cares what the PF is thinking? Is that really what CRM is all about? Haven't we learned anything from Tenrife?
Then there is this gem:
In the operators guidance and rules it is written that the captain is the only one with the authority to reject the takeoff. For this reason the hand of the captain is near engine controls in case of a decision to reject the takeoff. In the event of a controllability issue it is very likely the pilot flying is the crewmember who experienced and is faced with the problem, in this case it was not the person authorised to make the rejected takeoff decision.
So we are supposed to believe then that the person who is faced with the immediate task of securing the safety of the flight is the person who has no authority to do anything about it.
Right. (sarcasm) That's outstanding SOP's guys (more sarcasm). What the hell does "Pilot Flying" mean if one has no actual authority to fly the plane.
This case isn't a good example of a F/O undermining the Captain's authority. It's a good example of how an arrogant Capitan and backed up by the thoughtless SOP of a company make a mockery of the notion of a safety culture.
