We should be carefull our own subtle egos don't come into play. A polished Altoid tin doesn't render some elevated consciousness to ignore the polished badge of Old Bald Guys peers, for example. You can sit over the wing by an emergency exit, wear nomex, pass on the $1 bottle of rum and coke and still perish while some polyester clad Elvis impersonator in the toilet survives. 'Authorities' work by consensus and past experience. It's good to be proactive and assess threats and options. Completely dismissing 'authorities' in a disaster is subtly blaming them for creating it.