AP3207
One thing that surprised me in all of this (although I'm not intimate with the details, haven't read all this thread and am not a Chinook man) was the changes that went around post crash.
I can't remember the exact words, as I haven't needed to look at the issue for a while, but having been on the BOI for a crash a couple of years later, IIRC negligence was only something that could be ascertained where those 'accused' could defend their corner. Given that if this change was brought about because of this incident, it baffles me that nobody has said 'ok, we've changed the rules because of this, if we treated these guys the way we now have the rules they wouldn't be found negligent'.
Whether or not what they did was believed to be negligent then becomes irrelevant.
sw