I hope the families get to read this.
Doubtful the co-pilot was young and single. I was at his funeral and spoke to his parents who will be long gone by now, as you have chosen an accident from 40 years ago to advance your cause (whatever it is, I'm not sure). The pilot (Captain) was an Australian exchange officer, and just in case any of his family do read this (unlikely) in my humble opinion his flying skills under extreme duress saved a lot of lives. Worth mentioning I think, since this thread has gathered some traction.
Posters of course have freedom to do whatever the site mods allow - its the internet and all sorts of folk inhabit it. Calling out RAF aircrew because they differ in their interpretation of what does and does not consitute operational acceptable risk seems a little odd on a professional military aviators forum, but whatever, to each their own. As far as the vagaries of law are concerned...beyond both my IQ and my interest level I'm afraid. If you're telling me the UK justice system is a total ****fest, I could not agree more, but for me anyway, it is what it is...not something to keep me awake at night. Again to each their own, but I tend think there would better places to have a legal discussion like this...with perhaps a more receptive audience. Just saying.
However for the sake of accuracy lets put the seabird discussion to bed shall we, it was seagulls, not geese, as any number of folk who were there at the time can testify. And while on the subject guy who got away with a broken leg was an AEOp (Flight Sergeant or a Master, I know his name, but I am not posting it) not the Flight Engineer. (There were two flight engineers onboard, as it was Nimrod Mark Two Conversion Sortie and the NCF (Nimrod Conversion Flight) was onboard in addition to the usual crew.) The second flight eng was standing on the flight deck and simply ducked behind the bulkhead and crouched on the floor prior to impact (the aircraft was only airborne for a few seconds). The impact was so soft the emergency lights did not trigger (less than 2g I think) and some of the crew initially thought they were down in Findhorn Bay (quite a few extra bodies on board in the galley and in the pax seat who were probably not paying to much attention to the departure details at that point). It was also pitch black and as anyone who ever lived at Kinloss know, the Geese transit to and from the bay at dusk and dawn, not during the dark.
Anything else you guys would like to know?
I actually don't mind discussing this particular accident as I think it highly unlikely that any relation to the deceased would be reading it and in any event the actions of the pilots on the day were exemplary, and probably heroic, in every respect.
Last edited by Richard Dangle; 19th Nov 2020 at 22:00.