Spitoon,
We keep on at the pilot until we are confident we have the required figure. Hence my question to Raven who seemed to think that eliciting the information was a simple matter. Having got the POB, we pass it to the crash crews shortly before each movement (military requirement). How they use that information is up to them. If the crashed aircraft is reasonably intact they should confidently be able to rescue the correct number of survivors. But the POB figure is academic if it's a real spear in. How do you know if you have got everybody out if all you have is a mismatched collection of heads, legs and torsos?
Are there any fire crews PPRuNeing who could give us their side of the picture?