DayGlo patches
Well, Astir 8, firstly it wasn't "the ATC getting away with it" it was the Royal Air Force at the material time, these are RAF aircraft, RAF markings and Registrations, and until very recently were maintained by RAF fitters under RAF Eng Control and procedures. even now, with SERCO "rentacrowd" contract they are still under the control of the RAF Eng Authority. They are used for Cadet activity but they are RAF aircraft 100% - and their fleet size rivals some other RAF types ( not difficult now !)
There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever thus far that this conspicuity marking scheme has had any deleterious effect on airframes and I have absolutely no doubt that every single aspect of GRP compatibility issues were considered after GROB and all releavnt authorities were consulted.
We are being led away from the main issues here - Mk 1 Eyeball, good and thorough checks before manoevres or aero's - No paint schemes can take out the risk of somebody NOT carrying out diligent and careful checks. Clearly someone didn't.
Survival aspects - yes Tutor doesn't seem to have a good record on the face of it, but..........
if the impact was taken on canopy area, then there may have been
1) Damage preventing safe egress
2) Injury to occupants caused by impact
There may also have been little height available for safe egress - we don't know whether any attempts were made.
There is also the consideration of whether the pre-flight brief was fit for purpose - we know that the Cadet sees a Video, but was this reinforced by a Staff parachute brief using an actual chute ? In my thousands of Cadet sorties, I have always been particularly careful to ensure that my subject knew exactly what would happen in the event of an emergency, and I always used to think the unthinkable just to condition my mind.
Were all aspects of Canopy jettison/removal correct on FRC's ? - we have seen a fatal many years ago in 1995 where a Pilot and Cadet died and who may have attempted to escape following a mid air where the RAF FRC's written WERE incorrect ( swiftly FAXED handwritten amendment within a day or two and then AL action followed ) - if followed as written then you would NOT have got out and they didn't !!! - although I don't know whether this little Admin detail ever saw light of day in Coroner's Court, and it certainly was missing from the official Accident report survival aspects.
All important questions that will no doubt be addressed by BoI and AIB and hopefully Wg Cdr Flying @ HQAC. I would hope that there would be some joined up thinking about any possible similarities between this accident and the recent S Wales Mid Air.