Originally Posted by
Jutta
Is it not normal bevor departure that the team gets at least acquainted and the commander clears important questions like that, bevor boarding?
We can't tell the tone of voice in which the question was asked, because all we have is the transcription of the CVR. It may turn out that it was just a joke that the Captain was making before he went to get some rest. As is the case in all large airlines, it is possible to get a rostered crew that have never encountered each other before on the flight deck - it's just the way the rostering system assigns personnel.
For example, in the case of one of the best examples of CRM there has ever been (the crash of United Airlines 232 at Sioux City), none of the crew had been personally introduced to Captain Denny Fitch - who was a DC-10 training captain who was "deadheading" on the flight - ever before. But what you hear on that CVR is the trust that all the flight crew, plus their new member, have in each other and the decisions that meant that a lot of people walked away from a crash that was likely to have killed everyone on that aircraft. What I'm trying to say is that in the airline environment, it's a regular occurrence that you'll be working with people that you haven't worked with before - that's not unusual.
Unfortunately, what we're looking at here appears to be at the other end of the scale - a Captain who puts his faith in his two F/Os to manage that leg of the flight, but when things start going wrong it is apparent that at least one of the F/Os (in the right-hand seat) is not handling the situation correctly, and the other F/O (in the left-hand seat) doesn't feel that he has the authority to take over when something goes wrong and waits for the Captain to return, by which time it is effectively too late.
Wuenschen wir doch, als unser Piloten alles klar verstehen koennen.
