Tony I back you 100%
Sticking a large jet in 'coffin corner' exposes it to a jet upset situation if you encounter any turbulence, ie: A loss of control - not pretty.
To you naysayers; I don't care what your view of the accuracy, conservatism or whatever of the FMC is, it should only be ignored on firm grounds, IE; the AFM which, from my read of the first post was not done on the A-B leg. Your airline ought have guide-lines in its SOPs on that. Also; my philosophy on the FD is only proceed if everyone is in agreement otherwise think of something else. An old captain in my airline only stops putting on fuel when everyone around him is smiling, including the dispatcher!! May be not the accountants, but who cares?
The C of G on page 1 is put there by the airline and is a statement of ITS cruise configuration policy. I cannot believe an airline management condones tinkering with it in order to change the flight envelope, unless of course they do not understand the system.
Tony, I don't know how old you are or how far from your own command you are but... Emirates are recruiting right now.
Best of luck, youre doing a good job, I hope your union gets in behind. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">