Has the power of intellectual rigour and challenge been cast aside by the mainstream RAF? Is it so wrong to think the unthinkable in this modern age? I find it surprising that some of you take offence over an issue that may or may not happen, but which is not inconceivable in the modern world.
While any order to crash into a car containing a terrorist may well be illegal, it should not stop individual aircrew from thinking about it, or the possibility of having to fly their aircraft into a hijacked airliner to stop Canary Wharf from going the same way as the Twin Towers. This would have to be a personal decision, taken at the time, under difficult circumstances. What would you really do? That is what the AVM appears to have said.
The answer is not to throw the teddy out of the pram because someone has asked a difficult question. And the AVM (who I have never met) does appear, from some of the comments, to want to make you all think a little more about your profession and its place in the modern world - surely that is one of the key functions of these conferences. What is so wrong with that?