To think that if you are a pilot/driver/captain you stay until the bitter end when shit hits the fan?

[ProbationProbationProbation]

... It be held accountable?

I didn't realise the pilot (if that's the term) of that horrific Egyptian Balloon accident jumped out as soon as it caught fire.
Surely then it just drifted off into space burning because nobody on board would have known how to control it, or what to do in an emergency.

I know the fire was accidental, but surely we rely on the professionals in this instance to at least do some basic damage control?

Surely his actions resulted in more deaths than necessary?

I found that footage of the balloon going down really really horrifying when i was it on the BBC yesterday. I was surprised they showed it actually. We see lots of horrific images on media - but for some reason this one really touched me. It was like watching footage of a coach crashing or something. 19 people dying in that short little clip of film.

I cant say i thought anything about the rights and wrongs of who jumped out and when. I just thought Jesus Christ those poor people :(

(Not trying to start debate on the rights and wrongs of showing the clip at all here by the way. Just saying how i felt watching it)

From what I read a lot of them are not properly trained, even so I agree with niceguy2 natural survival instincts would kick in for sure.
The same one's that have you mooing when giving birth lol.

Not when i was it - when i saw it.

Fluffy it was horrific :(
I can't begin to imagine the panic of those poor people :(

According to the news report I saw he was on fire
The pain would be unbearable and he must have been desperate to jump

If he was thinking at all, he probably assumed everyone was following him.

I don't think you can blame him. He would have reacted instinctively.
There is a big difference in reacting in an emergency where there are procedures and time and where something is very sudden with only split seconds to act.

A friend of mine is a dr and once had to deal with a baby's death because the mother was holding her as a rear passenger in a car. The car was involved in a crash. You assume that as a mother, your instincts would make you hold on to your baby, but in this case, the woman let go of the baby in order to put her arms out to stop herself from lurching into the seat infront.

I don't think you can know how anyone will react in these situations.

This thread makes me feel a bit ill...

What protocols exactly are you expecting him to follow?

Once all ability to control the balloon has gone, any hope of a successful landing has also gone. Telling everyone to jump was probably the only thing he could do. And it's understandable that the choice to jump or not would have been petrifying, and some people will not have done so.

It's a mixture of the adrenaline, a self preservation instinct and a situation that can't possibly end well.

the repots say his face and arm were on fire. I doubt he could have done much.

I wasn't out to cause upset/illness/anger.
It's an awful tragedy.

This was my initial ill-educated thought at the time.

I interpreted the situation as him jumping straight away when his control still could have been invaluable.
I bow out, educated and unreasonable.