BizSLF. Your quote:"All the lamenting about the flight crew being held responsible if something going wrong - who cares - do your job the best you can and deal with the consequences - happens every day in this mixed up world." Yes it does, but the average person is not then subject to the full force of the law. Crew can, and have been, imprisoned for their actions. Doing the job as best you can includes preventing possible airborne problems at the best point; before they are taken into the air. Let's assume at least that the captain had good reasons in his mind, and give him the benefit of the doubt until we know the full facts.