Quote from lederhosen:
"Certainly our procedure in terms of captain's incapacitation is for the FO to swap seats..."
I wonder what a/c type are you referring to? Unless it is practised regularly (preferably, in a sim), like we did on small a/c in my youth, taking a pilot out of his/her comfort zone in a single-pilot contingency situation is likely to create more problems than it solves (as well as being of doubtful legality). Reversing hands for all tasks is a bit like trying to brush your teeth with your other hand. In my experience, trainers have to pass separate handling checks in both seats every six months.
Fortunately the rudder-fine steering on most modern airliners normally enables the RHS pilot of a single-tiller a/c to vacate the runway after landing, provided a rapid-exit taxiway is available.
Hi goeasy,
You make a good argument for the captain doing all his/her "own" (as someone once described it) taxiing. As for "carrying the can", my advocacy of role-reversal including the co-pilot being able and allowed to taxi the a/c is maintained despite personal experience. But I don't think that a F/O is any more likely to mishandle or miss a turning than the captain, and - as for chart-reading ability - the ability of presbyopic captains to read small print with reading spectacles is regularly tested!
To repeat a point already made by me and others, the strongest argument for allowing copilots to taxi is that of personal development. In training, the importance of planning and execution, as well as the potential and historic implications of a foul-up, are best taught and learned from the early stages of a pilot's career, in my opinion.