Originally Posted by Willadvise
What aspect of LAS ATC are you critical of?
On the evidence presented, there was no help from ATC regarding what was actually going on. She told BA that fire services were on the way (only when they declared the Mayday-double transmission, then she repeated herself) but I would have loved to have heard "major flames and smoke on the port side and underneath". "Fire services are on their way". What can she see? Should we evacuate based on that call? As it was, BA said, as they announced the evacuation to ATC, "we have a fire", possibly indicating that the real situation outside had only just dawned on them. 60 seconds from the Mayday (and the tower saying services are on the way) before a door opened. Fair enough stopped on a Lo Vis takeoff where no-one can see you, but in broad daylight?
It is obvious there was "procrastination" in the cockpit and in fact, the Evacuate command only came after the jumpseater came back from the cabin. I can't help but think that if ATC has said "you're ablaze", the evacuation would have come much earlier.
Liked the yank who said it looked like a brake fire... and Ground One asking to close the runway.