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A is responsible for not losing possession during the time that the timeout is requested and said request is verified as legitimate. Until I have verified that the request is legitimate, and granted it, the timeout has NOT been granted. If I had a legitimate request and a 5-second count in progress, I can grant the timeout and terminate the closely-guarded or inbounds count, even if it has reached 5, because I know that there is player control at the time of request. Not so for a player stepping on a boundary line, or releasing the ball on a shot or pass while the TO request is confirmed.
About airborne players, in NCAA, officials are specifically instructed NOT to allow TO to an airborne player who would land in the backcourt/OOB. If the player would land inbounds or in the frontcourt, the timeout request can be granted. NFHS still allows TO to airborne players, so if an airborne player has player control, I will grant it to a HS player, but not to a college player.
Re: last-second shot, there is another criterion which pre-empts the official's whistle, and that is the horn or red/LED light behind the backboard (occasionally seen on or inside the shot clock). Even if the official had not been able to blow his whistle on a late last-second shot, he can still wave it off because the light, horn, and/or reading of zeroes happened before the shot, all of which evidence could be provided to him by a partner, the official scorer, or timer. This is not so with timeout requests, where there is no external criterion which can pre-empt the official's whistle, and allow the official to retroactively allow (or disallow) the timeout request.
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