A valid question. L was referring to his bravery and how he could pad his wallet and capitalize on another Captain's refusal. Since when did bravery and $$ apply to CLR? United says they don't shop airplanes. Do we want to get to a point where a Captain's decision could be clouded by the thought of extra money? So how did I know he didn't discuss it with his f/o? I don't. I do know that his train of thought and personal self gratification would not be regarded very highly by a lot of the pilots I fly with.

This comment by L leads to LAS and no APU. I go to work to ensure that passengers get from A to B as safely and comfortably as possible. Taking a plane into an extreme heat environment without an APU is a recipe for disaster. Does anyone remember FLL? Sure everyone can promise that the turn will run smoothly, but after one time of looking up at the cabin temps and seeing 90+ degrees across the board, you will not want to put yourself or your passengers in that position again.

Another nice quote from L. I saw a similar meter where the Captain was belittled for a refusal for a legal deferral. He refused a plane because he was left with one operational system in an international environment. If that system had failed, with no redundancy, things could have gotten ugly very quickly due en route weather.

We as pilots foresee a lot that zone controllers, sam, dispatch, routers cannot. We should not allow their armchair quarterbacking to influence us as well.

I am not here advocating that we should refuse for a reading lights or video monitors. There is no place for bravery, monetary gain/loss, or armchair quarterbacking in our decision making process.