I have been reading this post for years and have a lot of admiration for the avid supporters of John and Richard. It never ceases to amaze me how many opinionated folk state their opinions as fact. The simple matter is there are no facts. I grovel around in VFR and special VFR below 200 feet a lot of my time and for those readers who don't know, VFR in helicopters is effectively "clear of cloud and in sight of the surface". The same rules apply in civvy street and it makes sod all difference if you have no passengers or are full of em. This visibility is that which is observed from the cockpit, not some yacht or lighthouse. John and Richard were both good pilots and were not likely to have made suicidal type decisions. Therefore, either they made a mistake or something happened. I fly an aircaraft with an OK icing clearance and if I were put in their situation flying an aircraft which was effectively a VFR machine on that day I would have been most unhappy. I gather that their duty day had already been a long one and that John was most unhappy about flying this particualr aircaraft. It is many years since I was in her majesty's employ but it still grieves me when I see an organisation which I was proud to be a part of make scape goats out of two fine men. Wratten and Day made a political decision when they changed the findings of the BoI. It is high time Mr Hoon and his cronies in government reversed this unfair judgement and put the matter to bed.