I'll put my head on the chopping block, that if this accident occurred anywhere in the USA, under similar circumstances, that Captain would be working as a greeter at Walmart. But....mysteriously he's back on the line. Guess I have a chip on my shoulder for finding that a bit...odd.
Not odd at all. These guys are represented by a powerful union. Almost nobody gets fired and they certainly wouldn't have been fired had this accident happened in the U.S.
However, after reading between the lines, it might be a bit more accurate to say that the Captain is represented by a powerful union and the F/O pays his dues in hopes that some day he too will become a caption and enjoy that same high level of representation. This wouldn't be the first time that an F/O got thrown under the bus in a hearing. I logged a lot of time in the right seat before I moved over and whenever some captain tried doing something a bit sketchy I
always thought to myself, "How is this going to sound when I have to explain it in a hearing?". On more than one occasion that prompted me to express my disagreement with the actions of the caption. I have never been afraid to die, but I never wanted to look bad, if you get what I mean. As of this moment, I've never used the evacuation check list and I never had to go to a hearing either.
Perhaps the F/O in this instance should have thought ahead to what he was going to say in his hearing and, equally as important, what the captain was going to say.