Apologies for an intrusion from a non-aircrew long-time lurker but may I suggest a slight amendment to SFFP's previous missive.
"Common sense and logic tell me the aircraft was almost certainly serviceable prior to impact and the crew quite probably porked up. What common sense and logic also go on to tell me is that probably {etc simply} does {not} support the verdict reached by the ROs, however it does not meet the rules in force at the time that "there should be no doubt whatsoever" as to the cause. "
Some have said recently that "no doubt whatsoever" is an impossible standard to achieve and they may well be right - but as this concerned aircrew not able to represent themselves, maybe that was the hidden intent of the standard. After all the rules for ascertaining blame were changed not long after this weren't they?
No matter though because whether or not it was impossible to meet the standard surely the ROs were not entitled to ignore it. The fact that they did use assumption and 'educated' guesswork to support their ruling is the reason this thread was started and is still going.
Back to watching.......