It seems most people would agree, the aspect of how severe the smell of smoke is, remains somewhat subjective.
Perhaps in this instance, erring on the side of caution was excessively cautious.
But like many things, if we weren't there, hard to give anything other than an opinion, however, having read the AAIB bulletin, where it is clear she had been IN the cockpit and knew the cockpiy crew were not incapacitated, I would just give her a nice warm cup of DCM. End of story.
On a more practical note, similar to spandexdude, I tend to have the PA selected on, albeit at a low volume, and whilst some may call me nosey, I like to know what is being said to the SLF. As most of our company PA's are doing nothing other than causing death by PA, (our company do it in a few languages), it is very easy to monitor, as the PA's one normally hears are the routine run of the mill type, and ones brain naturally filters it out or files it away as background music, as one naturally expects to hear the constant drone. I do not find it detracts from my monitoring of the radio, and I'm just an average capacity guy.
However, when you get an odd one, like "You in the red shirt, leave that door alone and sit the f@ck down", it gets noticed.
Also, one thing which I think works quite well for the pilots and the cabin crew, is our "Uh-Oh!" call, which our company introduced years ago.
When we have something occur which is clearly out of the ordinary, we all know it takes a while for certain problems to clarified, assessed, and a plan of action decided.
So, one of the calls we first make is: "Cabin Crew to Station"
They know, A) we are alive, B) All is not well, and C) That any second now, it might be HeyHo, off we go.
It's their clue to get their sh!t in one sock, stand to like a coiled spring, and be ready to go at the first word of "EVACUATE, EV......,etc".
They use the time to get into position, evaluate outside, inside, ready to report anything abnormal they see, they know they are the eyes and ears of the vast area we cant see, hear or smell, and mentally prepare themselves for popping the doors.
It is also reassuring for them, as they know that after the Uh-Oh call, there may be a while before the next call, and more often than not, it is the dulcet calming equivalent of "Cabin crew you may resume your normal duties, Ladies and Gentlemen, blah blah..."
However, in the event an evacuation is needed, they already know we are in control, and are ready to go, but only WHEN COMMANDED, at a seconds notice.
Works for us!
Last edited by LongTimeInCX; 12th Feb 2011 at 05:07.