John Blakeley
When you wrote “ - I have never seen such a biased outcome as this - ” (p 2393) you hit the nail on the head – I am sure that most here would agree with your sentiment.
May I suggest a possible reason for their bias and harsh verdict:
At the time, any rumour of possible foul play had to be nipped in the bud or public unrest could have flared up in NI and the peace process (on which there had been so much work done in secret) wrecked – this could have been a valid consideration whether sabotage had actually occurred or not.
Politically, a conclusion had to be arrived at positively, firmly, and confidently for the benefit of the public - and this left two options for blame: the aircraft or the crew.
The former could have grounded a much needed a/c in the absence of any clear evidence of direct cause – it just had to be the crew, the harshness of the verdict persuading the general public that there was no doubt in the authorities view that it was pilot error, so quashing further speculation.
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There is an up side to this concept – after 12 years of the peace process and economic developmental changes the likelihood that opening up the issue officially would incite a significant public reaction is probably nil and so the political bias for that unjust verdict should be weakening and so the group eventually may be successful in clearing their names.
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Conversely, the passage of time renders the actual cause moot.
Justice delayed is justice denied.