Jacko,
Nice, considered, angle - thanks.
Remember a few years ago, the Sqn I was on lost a jet around lunchtime. Jet was 'missing' until quite late in the evening, once some wreckage and body parts were found in the sea. Not a day I'll ever forget.
The good side - the Sqn was sufficiently tight that Boss and XO managed to get round to see the families pretty much before anything was announced anywhere... there's the lesson.
The less good side... it's just as well that Boss / friends were able to be with the families, as they ended up fielding telephone calls from unscrupulous journos who'd already been told my the media hamdlers that there was no news yet. Worst of all... gutter press trying to get access to a little boy at school. Little lad was unaware that anything had happened much less that, later on, he would be told that his father's never coming home again. Whatever the media angle, that's just not on.