The present system, however, must have/does put people in an inenviable position, with all kinds of hidden pressures - which should not happen in an ideal world. The fact that everyone has come out with their sanity intact (mostly!) speaks volumes for their resilience and dedication..... hats off etc.
Absolutely, and here here Flip! Those with the necessary technical, operational and other appropriate knowledge and experience would be available to the "MAIB" both as witnesses and even as attached board members. The point would be that the "MAIB" and hence the Inquiry would lie outside the MOD (nested with AAIB?), and hence have its own reputation of independence and objectivity to maintain. As you say the problem, in the main, has not been the BoIs per se, but the subsequent massaging or total rewrite on "review". Messrs Wratten and Day must mark the nadir of RAF Flight Safety policy, and to continue down their road would lead to the utter ruination of the RAF. The independent authorities that officiate over civilian enterprise should act as models for similar ones to investigate military accidents and deaths, and would perhaps be more appropriate than leaving it to the overworked coroners (effective though they might be) to do the job others should have done but failed.