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The bottom line to me after reading all this is this. 1 Captain decides one thing and another one chooses a different path. Past experiences cost saving blah blah. The point is the WJ captain chose to takeoff while a passenger in the back end had a concern. He says it was too late at this point.
In my opinion he should not have envolved the media and the point of this to me sounds like he was pis*ed off that he told his kid they were gonna de-ice because HE would have as Captain but they didnt so he got mad and wrote a letter in the heat of anger or frustration. That being said there are assumably no pictures or video or any kind of proof at all. However the Captain being quoted as saying "I hope you don't take this any further" makes me wonder a little that he had be caught doing something he bounced back and forth in his mind before deciding to takeoff.
The crews choice to takeoff is like everyone is saying here. Captain's finally responsible and its pretty well going to be his decision. Hind sight in this is that it brings up good discusions from different crews at different airlines and sheds little to no light on the facts of this incident except for what the passenger viewed as unsafe. All TC will do is review the wxx that day and conditions however long it sat on the ground etc. If they even take it that far. My hats off to Flight Nav for following it up promptly.
I think the WJ Captain did the 50/50 call made it but got called on it from a FCM sitting in the back of his airplane got mad and wrote a letter. That being said he is entitled to his opinion and he should have wrote a letter but not to the media. This makes no sense to me.
If I was onboard though and I felt something was unsafe and it was too late perhaps a conversation with the flight crew at the end would be prudent.
Good thread though started some good info rolling.
B757FO