cazatou
A curious response. There is no need to rehearse your association with Lord Craig. I know him well enough having been a senior member of his staff at HQ 1Gp, and again at MoD: a good boss, and a nice person. I do not cast aspersions at any distinguished senior officers (I also know the two air marshals)- I am simply in the camp that believes that they are wrong.
I am unable to put myself in the two pilots' position because, like yourself, I do not know what happened in the latter stages of the flight. Also like yourself, I feel that the likelihood is that they screwed up; but given the formal burden of proof etc etc, I believe that an 'open verdict' is the correct outcome. I don't hold any conspiracy theory, but I do feel that the well-rehearsed unknowns/uncertainties outweigh the line adhered to by MoD.
You might also be interested in an extract from an earlier post of mine:
'I was the President of a BoI which investigated a fatal Tornado accident in the mid-eighties. From the evidence available, we postulated that the crew had become disorientated whilst manoeuvring at lowish level, over the sea, at night. However, although the probability was high, there was insufficient evidence to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that this was the case. My reviewing officers agreed, and no blame was attached to the crew.'
If you've the time or inclination, you may want to have a peep at my other earlier posts, 588/592, when I was someone else!
Regards
Last edited by jindabyne; 24th Jun 2006 at 22:49.
Reason: To include last sentence