I've listened to the tape a few time as well and I'm at a loss as to how anyone can defend the flight crew. Although I'm not suggesting a public flogging
, I think they have cast BA in a poor light and I'm not anti BA. We all make mistakes and I think this was poor judgement pure and simple.
I (we) can only go on the tape that's been provided and so there may be a lot more to this incident but it sounds as if the BA was saying he was "ready" when patently he wasn't. I rolled my eyes when the pilot makes the "point of order" when everything I heard suggested he (they) wasn't ready. I agree with Penko's view and I'll admit to approaching the hold expecting to get a line up clearance and only received one at the last moment. He should have complied with ATC unless he had a valid reason for not doing so. Technical problem? If he had one he never declared it so how could the controller make an allowance for that.
Storm in a tea cup? If you think it's acceptable to ignore an ATC instruction, without a VALID reason, then please stay away from major international airports. I imagine the controller has filed a safety report after having her instructions wilfully (as far as we know) ignored. I'd be interested to know what the view from the BA pilot community is.