Better to be safe than sorry !
From my own personal experience as a a regular airline passenger i would support the descision of the guy who sits in the drivers seat more than the guy in operations at the airline or the suits behind the top desks ...even if he was eventually found to be wrong in making that descision .
I was a passenger on a channel express aircraft some years ago ( aircraft had been chartered for a holiday flight to the algarve ) it was on or around the time when the FAA issued special conditions for filling the central wing tanks on boeing's after the Twa 800accident .
I assume thats what caused there to be a fuel spillage after refuelling ..any way firebrigade where in attendance mopping up the spill etc when some bloke stood up and started screaming " I am an engineer ..this aircraft is unsafe ..i want to get off now ...proceeding to drag his wife and 2 children out of their seats ...the steward tryed hiis best to calm him down and he just lost it even more ...all the time screaming " if you dont get off this aircraft you are all going to die "
As you can imagine people where getting very anxious and uncomfortable however the captain came out of the cockpit and also tryed to intervene but to no avail so this chap was removed from the aircraft along with his sobbing wife and children .
The captain then addressed us passengers ...he explained that if for one single second that he thought that the aircraft that we where sitting on was dangerous and unsafe he would refuse to fly it and that he said was the case even if he was put in a position where he could lose his job .
He then explained the reason for the fire brigades attendance and why these new refuelling methods where being used ...followed by a statement that any passengers who where still uncomfortable with the incident that had just occurred and where frightened by what he had explained could also leave the aircraft ,,
This guy was so cool , calm and collected that no one moved an inch ..all ov us trusted his judgement and explanation ...He was a credit to his profession .
we where delayed by 2 hours but the flight was totally uneventfull and on landing he didnt just get the chav clap as i call it he got a standing ovation .
On leaving the aircraft i overheard him saying to the steward that the idea of anyone thinking that he would put any of his passengers lives at risk and take off in an aircraft that was dangerous was so gut wrenching it hurt .
I for one believed him ..that guy would never have put any of his passengers lives at risk ..even if it meant him losing his job .
So to all of you ppruners who are having a go at this spanish captain & fellow pilot is it not better to be safe than sorry ?
even if you are eventually proved wrong ...
you have acted in the best interests of your passengers and thats what matters...