Airworthiness
Tapper's Dad - please check PMs
Sadly, the captain does not seem to be able to question the under-lying airworthiness of the aircraft he is tasked to fly - something that I guess is of concern to many Nimrod crews at present. If you want a good example look again at the Chinook Crash on the Mull of Kintyre - the NI detachment commander and captain on the day of the accident did not want to use a Chinook Mk 2 because of its known problems, eg performance limitations and flight safety critical distractions such as false engine fail warnings lasting up to 12 seconds (even written up as a warning in the CA RTS recommendations), but he was of course over-ruled. As OC Rotary Wing Squadron, commenting on those same Chinook problems, wrote with amazing prescience earlier on the day of the accident, and after A&AEE had decided to stop flight trials:
Crews of the RAF have no such luxury and are likely at higher risk than A&AEE crews. As such, RWTS deem it imperative that, in the strongest possible terms, the RAF should be provided with a recommendation to cease Chinook HC2 operations.”
I understand from comments in the Sunday Times that the Stn Cdr at RAF Kinloss made similar comments on the standard of his Nimrods that were ignored as well.
JB