In the skies over Coldstream Scotland, on 25th April 2018, a scenario developed that was reminiscent of that which led to the collision of two Tornado aircraft over the Moray Firth in 2012. On this occasion it involved two Hawk T1s and two Typhoons, and the outcome could have been catastrophic, involving deaths in the air and on the ground. The associated AIRPROX report states,
"During the investigation, the board noted that neither aircraft was fitted with a CWS. However, the Typhoon is to be fitted with Enhanced Collision Awareness System (ECAS) and Hawk funding has been approved for a yet to be determined CWS; date for introduction/completion of CWS systems into respective fleets was not available."
So Duty Holders are still playing the very dangerous ALARP (Temporal) game - it's ok to drive your car at night without headlights as long as you plan to fit them at some time in the future. This flawed understanding of safety regulations is the real killer and formed part of a case presented to the Lord Advocate to revisit the need for an Fatal Accident Inquiry into the Tornado. Unfortunately, so far, he has failed to grasp the fact that fitting some Tornado aircraft with TCAS does not deal with the overarching procedural problem. Furthermore, he asserts that this is not a public interest issue - tell the people of Coldstream that.
DV