[QUOTE]The Buck does stop with the LHS. CRM has been interesting and has great value but the promoters have to realise that the Regulatory Authorities & the Law will site the Captain as being ultimately responsible. Command decisions made by committee have no place in a heavy, fast moving, transport aircraft. If so, let the Regulators & Law makers change everything to give the "committee" full responsibility. /QUOTE]
You are absolutely correct that the flight deck is not a level playing field nor a democracy. The Captain has the final authority, always.
It is also beneficial from a teamwork perspective for a Captain to demonstrate an awareness that he/she does not carry the responsibility alone and that poor decisions or actions leading to incidents/accidents reflect heavily on all crew members tasked with operating the aircraft. In practice it isn't just the Commander who will be held responsible. The Cargo 737 (DHL?) incident at EMA/BHX resulted in both crew members being dismissed, as did the Emirates tail scrape in Melbourne. The ATR that ran out of fuel and ditched in the Med saw both pilots given prison sentences by an Italian court(I don't think either actually ended up in the clink).
While clearly a good F/O knows when, if and how to assist the Captain, with assist being the clear emphasis, the few guys i have noticed gain a reputation with others as "difficult" during my career are those who operate under the "Buck stops with me and me alone" theory. I am not suggesting this is at all your outlook Landflap but it can be a common theme amongst the very few Captains I have encountered who seem intent on regarding everyone but themselves as the enemy. They are usually the ones who have ultimately forgotten that the responsibility does lie to a certain degree with the "team", even if the higher percentage of responsibility will always wrest in the LHS. A co-pilot who forgets their place in the chain of command or who does not understand the remit of a First Officer is I'm sure just as much of a problem.
In the FlyBe case neither pilot has dealt with the situation particularly well but as Kingfisher mentioned, would the situation have escalated to the level it did if the Captain had simply decided to avoid the weather? As always, easy to judge from a distance. I do have some sympathy for both pilots.