Originally Posted by
Diff Tail Shim
Indeed, Budgies death was nothing to do with the seat, but everything to do with norms in the unit riggers involved of not following a maintenance proceedure to the letter and independent inspections not being raised for such. The Sergeant rigger on that shift I had the misfortune to work for later. It was not hard to see why things went wrong. He should have been asking, where is the independent inspection for this task? Of course duty of care didn't exist.
Ultimately, both Burgess and Cunningham were killed by the failure to heed a maxim hammered into you during initial training, before you're allowed near an aircraft or its equipment. Servicing is not complete until verified.
Burgess' aileron wasn't checked after reassembly. Cunningham's shackles weren't checked for disengagement after reassembly. The difference being an illegal instruction was issued preventing the shackle check.