Oneoffdave:
His arm didn't fall off, his "hand" came away from the yoke.
Well, that's a relief. I thought for a moment something serious had happened.
Dash8:
The RAF proved years ago that a pilot can be totally legless and still be a stuff-shirted arrogant glory-seeker.
The difference being that the gung-ho RAF chap did not have 60 fare-paying passengers behind him.
Lose a limb? Lose a heart and consciousness? What's the difference?
That's why we have two pilots in the cockpit, right?
Move along, nothing to see here.
Except that the f/o was deemed to be not capable to taking over the flight. Which is why there definitely IS something for the fare-paying passenger to see here. A f/o should always be capable of taking over, even if it means a go-around and diversion. If not, there is something wrong (and I have seen that 'something wrong' several times in my career).
And excuse me asking, but how does one transition from control-column to tiller, with a mechanical hand? What sort of mechanics would allow such a swift transition? I would be interested to see the mechanics behind this, as would most of the passengers, I'm sure.
Silver