The "expectation" of what is required by cc in the flight deck, while a pilot is out on a p-break, needs to be carefully managed and communicated. Empowering anyone not appropriately trained (i.e. a type rated pilot) to manipulate switches on the flight deck when they "feel" something may be wrong, could be quite catastrophic.
After deliberately briefing the crew on the specifics, the day the CO-NOTAM was released (pre-flight), I was amazed at the questions being asked once cc were called to the flight deck. Some thought they were there to "fly the plane" in case something went wrong and one attempted to sit in the pilot seat when the other guy exited.
That aspiration didn't last too long...
I hope once the dust has settled, common sense prevails. After all, what does this procedure say for the confidence we have in our internal psych department?
