You'd be surprised at the things captains can't do these days. FO's go crying to the chief pilot who backs them up 100% in fear of any lawsuit. The regionals have destroyed the career along with the afirmative action hiring practices of the majors. This career has become a joke, and it happened on the "old guys" watch.
Yes, great point at what some old guys cant do! I've seen an old 59.5year old guy shut off an irs on the ground because he couldnt get the FMS to delete an entry, instead of knowing the box better! we took a 10 min penalty on that day! lol.....some old guys are much worse, and yes they should retire and defer to those who can reprogram much faster and accurately, but i believe these to be minorities and not the majority (since they retired now).
I am on the fence about whether or not the regionals destroyed this career, affirmative action has helped others who would have never broken the "good old boy club" and it has also given opportunities to people who dont deserve even welfare!.....
i will disagree that it happened on the old guys watch though. You cant from the cockpit, combate the likes of an ornstein, who will sell his mother to the devil to expand mesa's reach even more! dont even get me started on him!