Does the aeroplane need to say 'land now' in order to make a decision to 'land now'?
I'm going to wait until the report is out to see before I make a more refined judgement but my gut says working through all the messages for an hour plus when you have potential structural damage and fuel streaming out of holes in the wing near where an engine blew up means you haven't quite diagnosed the totality of the situation.
Similarly, sitting on the ground for 60 minutes waiting for the steps to arrive with fuel leaking, hot brakes, an engine that won't shut down which also indicates severe electronic issues in a wing where there is fuel leaking out, is a very brave call when a precautionary disembarkation with slides was available. Sure, I get the desire to not injure anyone on the slides which is a possibility even with a precautionary but still.......
So those are my gut feelings. I'll await the final report and see what the ATSB says about it all. Perhaps my gut feeling is way off the mark. Time will tell.
