Originally Posted by
marcal
I didn’t get the impression that he was “refusing“ to go, I felt like they were just shutting the engines down because the airport had closed because of the incident and they knew they’d be sitting there for a little while. Regardless, no one is going to stop our operation except for the Captains. No one in OCC is stopping anything. Until an airport closes they just keep the train chugging along.
The FOM clearly gives captains the authority to the delay a flight but not cancel one. I’ve used that card before.
Just because a flight arrives at its destination, does not mean that it was a done safely or responsibly. sometimes I wish more of us would have that versus the historic go go go mission driven mindset. This airline has clearly stated that they will back us up when we make safety related decisions.
Good discussion
This is misleading. I've "cancelled" a few flights over my many years here. It wasn't hard to do either. One was back in my M-88 days. Blizzard in ROC. Our airplane had MELs for thrust reverser and the autobrake/autospoiler system. I wasn't taking that jet up to ROC in a blizzard. We talked about getting a spare, but none were available. Cancelled.
For the younger captains here with not a huge "knowledge of aviation reserve" - never be afraid to speak up about something like this. If you, or your FO, or both of you have reservations about the situation. Stop. Make a call. In all my years here as a Captain, I've never been questioned about a safety call. Ever.