Originally Posted by
Ian W
Many a true word - a 'no brainer' - in other words do not use your brain. So what are the flight crew for? This could be automated - the aircraft automatics identify fire on the ground, turn the aircraft so fire is downwind of fuselage, stop the aircraft immediately and doors and slides on the upwind side away from any fire are automatically deploy. Simple.
Oh so now some of you will be thinking no not quite there may be exceptions. I would suggest that all those saying
always evacuate;
never think;
no brains required; should really never be captain. There are times when it may be a simple
decision; but it should always be a decision not an unthinking reaction - or for that matter unthinking lack of action.
The Air China, and British Air Tours at Manchester are repeatedly cited but these were different cases. No emergency is ever a cookie cutter version of a previous one. Unfortunately, no information is available -yet- on why this captain decided
in this particular case that waiting and using 'fire stairs' was a better option. The automatons on this board should perhaps wait until the facts are known: they may realize that being an automaton is not always the best option. A real learning opportunity.
Well said Ian.
I posted something similar, but it "disappeared" for some reason.