Originally Posted by
typhoonpilot
Good grief!!
This "new concept" of second guessing possible injuries from an evacuation when an entire wing is on fire must be nipped in the bud ASAP before an entire plane load of passengers dies from the shear stupidity of that concept.
Again, we don't know the full situation. Some observations that I've noted:
- The fire appears to have been at a time when ambient light levels were low. Cameras generally evaluate the light level of the entire scene, and when something with high relative brightness occurs in the scene, the camera tends to over-expose it and make it look worse than it would at normal daylight levels when being recorded.
- Fuel feeds fires in different ways; to me this looked like a smaller quantity of fuel that had spread over a larger area resulting in a larger but less intense flame front. As undesirable as it was (putting it mildly, don't get me wrong!), I don't believe the chances of it quickly progressing to something larger were great in the immediate short term (being the a time needed for RFF to get on to it). Having seen photos of the (relative) lack of damage reinforces that. And yes I do know what's in the wings (I come from a military aircraft servicing background). I've also watched the complete meltdown and destruction of the (Chinese?) aircraft linked here - comparing the two I'm left with the feeling that they had a little bit of time to "sit tight" in this case - especially knowing the RFF capability.
Did the Captain get it right or wrong? In all honesty, I don't have enough information to answer (and I have as much as everybody else here). If in fact he did have reason to believe that there may have been fuel flowing to the port side - and knowing that RFF were only seconds away then who's to say that an evacuation presented more risk of serious injury and death? At this stage how do we even know that he wasn't in contact with the RFF commander - stating his preference for an evacuation - only to be advised that RFF recommend sitting tight for the next minute whilst they get some serious quantities of foam on it? Has anyone stopped to think "perhaps the guy isn't stupid - what reasons may he have had to NOT initiate an evacuation"?
I just think it's really bad form for any judge to pronounce the accused guilty without hearing from the defense. We seem to get this time and time again in this wonderful internet world - and more often than I care to admit, I'm embarrassed to say I got it wrong when I didn't have other pertinent information; what seemed so clear cut when I didn't have all the facts suddenly did a 180 when I did.
I'm guessing that one doesn't get to command one of these fine birds if one is a complete idiot - and on that basis I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.