Hi Lonewolf,
Originally Posted by Lonewolf 50
IIRC, PNF was senior man in the cockpit before captain returned.
Well... no!
That's the part missed by almost everybody about "command of the flight" and it is also part of BEA comments (and concerns) about the flight deck management.
In fact, the captain left his command to the PF -the younger F/O. It is the sense of captain question about jr. F/O licence; he is checking if the jr. F/O can take "command" during his rest.
Air France doesn't make any distinction between F/Os seniority (both are presumed competent).
SOP is that the F/O "in command", when captain leaves the FD, should be the one flying: hence here, it is the PF who is in "command", not the PNF. This should be formalized by a captain annoucement about who is taking the command until his return, but there was no such a formal "passassion of command".
Air France changed that after AF 447. Today, the pilot "in command of the flight" would be the F/O PNF in left seat.
But it was not the case at this time.