Originally Posted by mphysflier
He said that when pilots became concerned about the mix of potentially hazardous cargo on board their aircraft, the nuclear material was often among the first to be offloaded.
Glib.
Why not "the dog ate my homework?"
Originally Posted by Jet A Knight
In my experience it's pretty rare that DG's are offloaded arbitrarily because the pilot is spooked. If they meet the proper requirements, including cumulative T.I's, proper packaging and segregation procedures are followed - they usually ship.
That would be closer to the mark. A pilot-in-command relies on other people knowing their job. Dangerous goods acceptance was a three day course plus exam as minimum last time I looked. Beats the aircrew DG awareness half-day course hands down.
If I have a signed declaration from a trained and accredited specialist working in a disciplined environment saying that the load is SAFE, then on what basis do I refuse to carry it? That would draw a sharp enquiry from the chief pilot asking who the hell made me more expert than the freight forwarder.
The problem lies elsewhere.