PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Warship Tour of duty, 7pm BBC2 covers the F35 accident
Old 27th Oct 2023, 09:23
  #12 (permalink)  
idle bystander
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Penryn, Cornwall
Age: 79
Posts: 84
Received 11 Likes on 8 Posts
And what does Sharkey think demanded an experienced Fleet Air Arm fixed wing carrier pilot? The accident was nothing to do with pilot handling, all the error chains being organisational or human factor-related. As for a Surgeon Commander, only if he or she had some serious HF knowledge that would be unusual for the medical profession; it is why the AAIB has an HF Inspector and not a doctor on the team.
But it is a bloody awful report, written by someone with almost no understanding of, and seemingly little interest in, the norms of carrier operations. Sharkey's point is that had the BOI been conducted by people with the appropriate experience it would have properly addressed the issues that are really behind this entirely unnecessary accident. These issues all flow from the catastrophic decision in 2000 when the Joint Force Harrier was formed and the Navy permanently gave up (was robbed of) direct control of its fixed-wing aviation, effectively reversing the Inskip Award of 1939 which returned naval aviation to where it belonged.
I guess it is career suicide for any light blue officer to suggest that naval aviation is anything more than aviation from a floating airfield, but this accident drives that point home.
idle bystander is online now