Originally Posted by
alfred_the_great
"Pressing on regardless" is not a bad thing - risks pay off (sometimes big) on a daily basis.
Pressing on regardless by subverting the airworthiness regulations and illegally ordering their suborning is what did for UK Military Airworthiness Provision in the first place, and can be said to have lead to over 100 deaths in subsequent airworthiness related fatal air accidents.
This wasn't a battlefield situation requiring flouting of the RTS (such as sending a rescue mission clinging to the outside of an AAC Apache into a fire fight). This was a commercial company carrying out test flying of an MOD aircraft in UK airspace. I've no idea what the costs are vis a vis environmental chambers and total airframe loss, but I'm damn sure no such costing had been assessed and consequent action authorised anyway. The scandal of WK loss rates out of operational areas needs to be fully investigated. Pilot error doesn't begin to address the fundamental causes.