Originally Posted by
Evanelpus
Does it really matter a rats bottom?
Maybe and maybe not. Too many unknowns and too much guessing, certainly.
I think a reason that the Captain's marital status gets discussed again relates to the amount of training, education, and awareness pilots have had about the potential influence of major personal life changes on cockpit performance. Each pilot has his or her own capacity and talent for compartmentalization. Some are incredibly good at it and some not so much. What is unknown is how well he had already adjusted to his change in status at home. May have been mostly sorted out, may have still been a significant annoyance. The nature of a given breakup varies as well.
Take that line of thinking. Apply to the malfunction scenario. If this gent was good at compartmentalization, then as you say it's a non issue.
If not the best at compartmentalization, then perhaps response to a given emergency was not up to his usual standard of performance. It's unknown, and with my guess on CVR data being not available, unknowable.
Remains a human factors issue to consider when the investigation team eventually get their hands on more information.