A captain at 28? Sort of makes me wonder what the average age is for this rank. Of course, maybe she was exceptional, and she deserved every ounce of the rank or maybe, she was female at the right time in dei history. Who's to know? Clearly, she wasn't qualified to fly this bird because clearly, she was incapable of taking instructions. Sad and horrible loss of life.
In an aircraft, the pilot in command is the equivalent of the captain of a ship. Regardless of rank, he is in charge. The idea that the captain outranked the warrant officer as a factor would not apply; even if the copilot is a general and the aircraft commander is a lowly first lieutenant, the aircraft commander calls the shots. Military aviators deal with the issue all the time. Regardless of your rank on the ground, in the bird the a/c is in command.
The warrant officer was sitting on the right side of the cockpit, which is where the aircraft commander sits in a helicopter. He also had a set of dual controls and in an emergency, he could have taken the aircraft away from the captain and flown it himself. I gather from the New York Times report, and from my own personal knowledge of the route that she was being evaluated on as part of a qualification that she needed. This would be a routine procedure and not indicative of shortcomings.
The Accident Board isn’t going to release any information until the report is finalized, because they never do. This is to avoid confusion over preliminary theories which can be incorrect and discarded as more evidence is uncovered, and to avoid entanglements with litigation. They won’t even talk to the NYT.
The Captain wasn’t an “experienced” pilot. She was coming off a desk job and for some time had probably been flying the monthly minimums to maintain her aviation rating. She also just didn’t have very much flight time experience. In all probability if she hadn’t driven into the airliner she would have flunked her check ride.
The NYT article was interesting but was chock full of improbabilities. The facts won’t all be out until the final report, but flying a training flight up the Potomac at night should probably be left for real national emergencies.
A captain at 28? Sort of makes me wonder what the average age is for this rank. Of course, maybe she was exceptional, and she deserved every ounce of the rank or maybe, she was female at the right time in dei history. Who's to know? Clearly, she wasn't qualified to fly this bird because clearly, she was incapable of taking instructions. Sad and horrible loss of life.
In an aircraft, the pilot in command is the equivalent of the captain of a ship. Regardless of rank, he is in charge. The idea that the captain outranked the warrant officer as a factor would not apply; even if the copilot is a general and the aircraft commander is a lowly first lieutenant, the aircraft commander calls the shots. Military aviators deal with the issue all the time. Regardless of your rank on the ground, in the bird the a/c is in command.
The warrant officer was sitting on the right side of the cockpit, which is where the aircraft commander sits in a helicopter. He also had a set of dual controls and in an emergency, he could have taken the aircraft away from the captain and flown it himself. I gather from the New York Times report, and from my own personal knowledge of the route that she was being evaluated on as part of a qualification that she needed. This would be a routine procedure and not indicative of shortcomings.
The Accident Board isn’t going to release any information until the report is finalized, because they never do. This is to avoid confusion over preliminary theories which can be incorrect and discarded as more evidence is uncovered, and to avoid entanglements with litigation. They won’t even talk to the NYT.
The Captain wasn’t an “experienced” pilot. She was coming off a desk job and for some time had probably been flying the monthly minimums to maintain her aviation rating. She also just didn’t have very much flight time experience. In all probability if she hadn’t driven into the airliner she would have flunked her check ride.
The NYT article was interesting but was chock full of improbabilities. The facts won’t all be out until the final report, but flying a training flight up the Potomac at night should probably be left for real national emergencies.