As far as I can tell, plasma fires are basically an RP thing. They disappear on station repair and don't cause damage fast enough to be threatening. I wouldn't even mind seeing them made more dangerous so that gunners actually would have an "Oh shit!" moment to force them out to effect repairs.
I've never personally seen a POB field a dedicated crewman for repairs. That would almost be... disrespectful? (Given how boring it would be, how unlikely it is they would be needed, and how small of an impact they would make even if they did happen upon the rare case of doing something).
My main concern is avoid a situation like this: Me and a friend (2 players) take all our alts in the POB and get something like the gunboat collection done. 16 Vigo schematics for the price of 1!
So at the moment I'd lean towards..
- Pilot: yes!
- Co-pilot: maybe?
- Everyone else: probably not