Originally Posted by
AerialPerspective
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.
OK, I am in the cockpit pre-flighting and there is a cargo or APU fire warning.
I try to contact the engineer through the headset, no joy.
I call ATC, they cannot see us as we are behind the terminal - they can see some smoke.
Smoke appears in cockpit, cabin crew yell there is smoke in the cabin.
Do I ? : 1. keep trying to call anyone for assistance.?
2. Packup my navbag and go for a coffee in the terminal.?
3. Call for an evacuation, or at very least a rapid disembarkation. ?
In (1 and 2) and there are fatalities I would suggest I would be screwed.
In (3) and something went wrong and there were fatalities I reckon I did what I could.
Fair thread drift from crew priority over pax though!