Originally Posted by moogless
A good point and one I hadn't considered,do you think the 'guests' will get a refund excluding wine and snacks used?If no go?If there is any chance of failiure,then there should be NO ONE invited except those who NEED to be there.
Perhaps this is the crux of the matter. What are the chances of XH558 not actually taking to the sky on the announced day? Pretty high I'd suggest, bearing in mind the extent of the restoration, the complexity of the old bird and the pressure on the captain to get it right - he'll probably abort if he has any doubts over any of the aircraft's system.
Perhaps Dr Plemming is simply pre-empting the embarassment that would result in the national media reporting a 'no go', followed by another and perhaps another?