Thank you, gentlemen, for your learned exposition of the law - which seems to thrive on a United States of Confusion! I especially relish the disclosure of the relevant railroad legal angles that can be used to waft smoke over the aviation procedures....
Going back briefly to the possibility of the station fire crew asking the pilot to stand by evacuating the aircraft, notwithstanding the possibility of smoke in the cabin, this took place, did it not, at St. Petersburg/Clearwater in Florida?
A sleepy place when I was there....how often is SP/C fire service called into a genuine emergency?
A few years back, at Kerry International Airport, Eire, I was informed by the tower that my aircraft was number one to land, and "Air Lingus, you are number two behind the Supercub!"....
So of course I kept pedalling like mad, and after landing safely and rolling out at a walking pace, was caught by a crosswind gust, and ended tail in the air in a bog, while Air Lingus had to go around, and around....
The Airport Fire Service was so excited to AT LAST have a genuine emergency to deal with, after all those years and years of practice, they came dashing up and intended to squirt foam all over my pride and joy.
"Don'T " I shouted, "Its not burning! Just help me to put it right side up and we'll push it to the apron". The fire service guys were so hyped they were actually trembling, but magnificently refrained from squirting their foam.
Eventually Air Lingus was able to land, and no harm done to anyone. And in fact there was no damage to my aircraft, as it was a very slow arrival into a very soft bog!
How much experience do smaller airports actually have for their firecrew to make sensible decisions when they are actually presented with an emergency? And it is even less likely that major airport firecrew will have any actual experience of life threatening emergencies.
Certainly not enough to be able to judge when to countermand a pilot's decision to evacuate. The rule should be well published. They can only inform, not command.
Last edited by mary meagher; 23rd Nov 2015 at 14:54.