Walter
I have to strongly agree with Thud and Blunder, I knew Rick and John as friends and very proffessional operators. Whilst I believe the most probable cause of the accident was the lack of situational awareness, it is certainly not the only possibility.
The rules in place at the time clearly stated that aircrew who had died in an accident could only be found negligent if there was absaloutely no doubt whatsoever about the cause of the accident. In this accident their certainly are many possibilities that, whilst perhaps not probable, are certainly possible, hence the criteria of "no doubt" is not achieved and they should not be found negligent.
Why this has gone on for so long, without a satisfactory solution is beyond me, and as yet no-one has been able to explain to me how, or why, the air marshal's involved, came to the concusion they did.
I have not found a single pilot, who familiar with the events of this accident, can argue that air marshalls made a reasonable decision.
The bottom line remains an injustice has been done, and whilst it is easy to ignore it, it is better to correct it. Even if that is not the path of least resistance.
SiClick