Originally Posted by
mike rondot
No he didn't, he pleaded Not Guilty and his artful brief got him off on the novel defence of a brain fart that baffled the brain(s) of the jury.
Your endless arguments about airworthiness indicate that you might not understand the difference between serviceability and airworthiness, and give me the impression that you are apologising for the pilot and attempting to shift the blame for the fatalities onto others.
In case you did not know, the captain of an aircraft is responsible for deciding whether the aircraft is serviceable and fit to continue on its planned flight. If he decides it is not serviceable, he always has the immediate option of discontinuing his mission and landing at the nearest suitable airfield. All other arguments about airworthiness or maintenance or management are irrelevant and serve only to fog the primary issue. This captain decided to continue with his routine when inverted at the top of a looping manoeuvre.
Quite why you feel compelled to deliver this ad hominem attack on someone who knows more than any here (please step forward if I have it wrong) about UK Military Airworthiness and the scandal of it being subverted by RAF VSOs and since covered up by succeeding VSOs I have no idea. As someone else who has indulged in endless argument over these matters I suppose I am on your little list too, or worse still that I do not rate inclusion. Either way, please take your abuse elsewhere.
I can only surmise that you (and those who chose to endorse your rant) feel that any airworthiness shortcomings in the aircraft might diminish the pilot's shortcomings that were involved in this tragedy. tuc has always distanced himself from discussions of airmanship, not only in this thread but in the too many other airworthiness related accident threads in this forum. His speciality is airworthiness, and your condescending dig that he doesn't understand the difference with that and serviceability simply undermines any argument that you may have to offer. I wonder if you know the difference yourself? You say a pilot is responsible for deciding if the aircraft is serviceable for the planned flight. How, other than to carry out his checks, external and internal, and by studying the F700? In reality he is placing his trust in those who signed off/deferred known defects and declared the a/c serviceable. Unfortunately, he has no such resources to turn to for its airworthiness. He has to place blind faith in those who are responsible that it is. That faith has been betrayed over and over again, witness the list in tuc's post.
You feel led to believe that tuc, and those who are in agreement with him, are apologists for the pilot. Why, by pointing out that the aircraft was unairworthy and should have never been cleared to fly by the CAA? That is the point he makes (and I), and no amount of personal attacks can change that. Perhaps you are an apologist for the RAF VSOs who carried out the attacks on UK Military Air Safety, and of other RAF VSOs who have managed the cover up since. If I say that your posts give me the impression that you are, does that justify me saying so? No? Then don't do so either.
You can think what you like about the airmanship, or lack of it, involved in this tragedy. As an ex FJ you have a better grasp of that than I anyway. By attacking the very notion that airworthiness, or lack of it, is irrelevant to the accident leads me to query the professionalism to which this site is dedicated (it's the first P in PPRuNe!).