I agree with the statement that liability is not the issue! We can all be cynical about this industry, lets face it, if FedEx were investing all this time and money only because of the risk of liability then ALL the other operators would be doing the same.
Sadly, the reality is that the risk of liability is not high enough for the majority to change the status quo. It is incredibly hard to be proactive in this industry and unfortunately most companies are still very reactive.
I am behind FedEx, I think they are making a very strong statement their workforce, to their potential customers and to the rest of the industry including the regulators. I hope it works out well for them.
I have just discovered that my airline is going to have me flying the some cargo flights quite soon. I am not at all comfortable with the idea of relying on raising the cabin altitude to suppress a fire somewhere over the Pacific! Aviation has not moved on much in the last two decades! Yet the cargo we carry has! More Dangerous goods, bigger payloads (Bigger aircraft), less crew to deal with the unthinkable!
All the time we just quietly accept this situation, either because we are resigned, cynical, think it is too hard, or simply don't want to raise our heads we are doing ourselves a huge injustice!
I am going to follow ClassCBird's example and write an email or letter to my authority... It may have little impact, but if we all do it, a few people will become a lot more aware of the potential problem. Talk to you Unions, talk to your friends, talk to anybody that will listen! Lets get something better than we have now.