Well its been 24 hours since I last commanded a wide body jet and you clearly are taking it personally, you can paint a warped picture of god like attitudes if you wish too but its a simple fact of international law and a fundamental basis of self preservation that the guy sat in the cockpit has the final say. There is only one person in command of an aeroplane and unlike ATC whatever decision the Captain takes he/she literally lives or dies by that decision.
Bula's post 14 says it all.
The fact you might get upset by our choice to follow instruction or not is frankly irrelevant to our decision making process and irrelevant to the law.
Yes we are team and both ATC and pilots get things wrong and hopefully catch each others mistakes but lets be crystal clear the buck always stops with the Captain both on a legal and mortal basis. Ultimately Captains have to sit down and justify every decision/action they take....if were lucky enough to be still be alive.
Last edited by 8che; 18th May 2016 at 17:04.