Originally Posted by
oceancrosser
Utter nonsense.
Having been a first officer on a KC-135R, and having experienced an engine shutdown on my #3 engine, followed by a fire warning on #1 (determined to be erroneous while my Captain was issuing our MAYDAY call), while almost 400-miles from the nearest adequate runway, I, for one, was more than glad to have had that flight engineer's carcass stationed four feet from my back.
Stuff happens, and it sometimes gets damned busy in the cockpit. That third set of eyes, and ears is often priceless, no matter what the bean counters say.