The media is all blaming the pilot, who, although very experienced in other heavy jets (747) was new to the 777.
As my son has entered the airline pilot ranks I have learned some things that the general public, and media, appear to be unaware of. We no longer have a "pilot" and a "copilot". We have a pilot-flying, PF, and a pilot-not-flying, PNF. The Captain and FO generally switch roles on each leg of a flight. The PNF duties are perhaps more important to flight safety than those of the PF. When my son was PF in an ATR and lost an engine he was thankful that the more experienced Captain was PNF at the time.
If this accident was the result of piloting error (as seems to be the case) it is the PNF, whose job it is to monitor the approach, who screwed up.
As my son has entered the airline pilot ranks I have learned some things that the general public, and media, appear to be unaware of. We no longer have a "pilot" and a "copilot". We have a pilot-flying, PF, and a pilot-not-flying, PNF. The Captain and FO generally switch roles on each leg of a flight. The PNF duties are perhaps more important to flight safety than those of the PF. When my son was PF in an ATR and lost an engine he was thankful that the more experienced Captain was PNF at the time.
If this accident was the result of piloting error (as seems to be the case) it is the PNF, whose job it is to monitor the approach, who screwed up.
