I've read many accounts of this incident. It appears that some are saying the man was IN THE JUMPSEAT behind the captain.
But I think it is a description of the position of the jumpseat.
And who would wear his epaulets on his day off? Unless of course he was in his FULL uniform going home. And what Air France Pilot commutes to West Palm beach?
I have a feeling this guy was no where near actually getting into the jumpseat, with the plane pushed back ready to taxi.
Most airlines have a specific list of reciprocol arrangment jumpseats and I don't think foreign airlines are on it for USAIR>
OH, and for once and for always, The Wright Brothers invented the airplane and its control system. Flying a barn door with a prop on it isn't an airplane.
The breakthrough of the Wrights was coordinating rudder and wing warping (in lieu of aileron) in their 1902 glider.
Once they had control, the engine was not so much more.
Sheesh.