Onceapilot:
Exascot, Hmmm... your question genuinely surprises me as your profile seems to indicate a considerable flying (any Captaincy?) background?
Considerable command time including Royal and Ministerial but I think you can see by some of the replies it is worth discussion. Thank you Kipper Fleet guys for making that situation clearer.
Thanks also for the PMs where you are not prepared to go public.
Edited to add: Just discussing this with Mrs Exascot (ret'd ATCO) her point: I know this was mainly a military issue but what is the situation if on a multi crew civilian flight when the captain is shacked up with a toastie in his bunk and the senior first officer in his seat busts a level and has an air miss? The AF accident was slightly different because the captain was in the jump seat at impact.