TD Well Said.
The slagging off should really stop the important issue is peoples conception of how safe the aircraft is. The official figures at
http://www.dasa.mod.uk/natstats/acci...m/acctab1.html for 2000-2006 are in fact at least 1 nimrod out unless they were produced before the ill fated XV 230. I believe the table fails to include XV227 which was written off after the damage shown on Panorama, albeit after it was fully stripped out and flown down to BAE (hats off to that crew). An unfortunate coincidence here was that Al Squires was the QFI on XV227 with Schwarbs as his student when that incident happened, lady luck was not on their side twice.
The inclusion of XV227, and there may be more like it I am unsure, would in fact increase the rate by 20% not good to have lost at least 6 out of a small fleet in the first place! Now how safe does the nimrod look on paper.
I stress the "on paper" as I for one firmly believe that the engineers are doing their best to keep the old lady flying. While fuel leaks are still an issue they are being found now and being rectified or dealt with as safely as possible whilst the aircraft gets on with an important operational role.
Unfortunately it is rarely the snag or fault that you know about that will cause the accident.