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Old 18th Nov 2005, 13:16
  #19 (permalink)  
VP959
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: West Wiltshire, UK
Age: 71
Posts: 429
Received 5 Likes on 3 Posts
Yes I do.

I took a telephone call at home from Mr Brian McDermid from the AAIB and wrote detailed notes about our hour long conversation. He very clearly and specifically told me that he had spent a day reading through the messages on the microlight Yahoo forum and others, gathering evidence of what I believe he referred to at the time as a "endemic lack of a safety culture".

I was also told, again by Mr Brian McDermid, that an article published in my name would be quoted (out of context, as it happens) to substantiate this view. This was at the beginning of this year, when the draft report was being prepared.

I was so concerned by his stance that I telephoned the AAIB the next morning and expressed my concern to a more senior investigator. I was reassured then that this would be unlikely to go into the report and that it was "background". I complained about the attitude of the investigator, but was again placated by reassurances from a more senior investigator.

Those who know who I am, and know of the considerable airworthiness responsibilities I've held, will perhaps understand why this stance by the AAIB enraged me somewhat.

I guess this means that my long-preserved anonymity on here is now blown, but exposing these flaws in our regulators seems worth it.
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