Good job nobody was photographing us running out of any US PX in Germany throwing Mountain Bikes into the back of the cab.
Generally it's not so much the act, as the public perception of the act that is the issue. If they had cleared this with the COC as part of a Navex and dissimilar airport landaway, they would have had top cover and a defensible position, clearly that never happened and they were exposed. Always easy to be wise after the event though.