Originally Posted by
cblaisd
And further hair-splitting: the
final authority is always the Captain's; the FAR (Federal Air Regulation) that both guides and chastens
every pilot:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/91.3
Of course, that doesn't mean AS doesn't have internal procedures and consultative process set up (and procedures when a pilot deviates from those), but, in the end, the Pilot-in-Command is the only one responsible for the final decision - for better or worse.
yup to all of it.
MedLink is a medical service on the ground that assumes all risk in medical situations on board when they are consulted, as long as their instructions are followed. They make the call to divert or not. Obviously, the Captain has final authority over decisions about what a plane does or not, but the company has policies that dictate what the Pilots do with regards to these decisions. I can't think of a scenario where a Pilot would refuse to divert if MedLink made that decision. In my experience, MedLink is usually fairly conservative when it comes to advising a diversion.