Originally Posted by
framer
I think AP who would have you and Bandalot who thinks the legal responsibility for the disposition of the aircraft and its occupants lies with someone other than the PIC ( someone yet to be named) until the aircraft moves under its own steam are doing the pilots amongst us a favour here by getting us to think about how we consider each delegation of authority while still on the ground....ie if something unusual is happening while at the gate do we need to get out of our seat and actively control the pace and tone of the operation before going back to the nuts and bolts of pre flight procedures ( performance, briefing, flight deck set up etc) because these things will wait.
My point with that was simply that if there was fire around the aircraft and the PIC could not see precisely where it was, he/she would communicate with someone on the ground before ordering an evacuation. That comes under the 'common sense' that everyone is talking about.
Beyond that, after an event, if there are fatalities I think you'll find that the determination as to whether the PIC is responsible or not will come from what he/she knew and whether they acted on the best information they had at the time, whether due diligence was exercised or not.