Passenger Evacuation slowed by checklist reading.
Scenario. Aborted take off due engine fire warning with ATC calling that they can see a fire around an engine. Captain rejects and comes to a stop.
Now is it really true that the current Boeing procedure is to have the first officer actually read out a checklist and action his areas of responsibility before the captain eventually picks up his microphone and orders an Evacuation? Sounds all very professional of course - all this calm reading and responding to a checklist while the fires burn ever hotter and maybe even penetrate the aircraft skin - while the passengers sit and sweat waiting for the checklist reading up the sharp end to finish with the triumphant phrase " Evacuation Checklist...COMPLETE. Then - and only then a hurried but firm voice announces "Evacuate. " Too late, the smoke has poured into the cabin and panic sets in and lives are lost because of the inordinate delay caused by fumbling for and reading of THE CHECKLIST.
Surely it is not too much to expect that the captain and first officer take immediate action from memory to get the people out before it is too late and not have to rely on the printed page to tell them what to do next? What prompts Boeing (and Airbus, too) to make such a drastic change to an emergency procedure that has so successfully stood the test of time? The ever threat of litigation perhaps?