Chugalug 2
I think I know what you are getting at, but I do not accept that airworthiness should be a vague concept. Unless things have changed JSP 318 (Regulation of Ministry of Defence Aircraft) defines “Airworthiness” as
“the ability of an aircraft or other airborne equipment or system to operate without significant hazard to aircrew, groundcrew, passengers (where relevant) or to the general public over which the airborne systems are flown.” The elements of an airworthiness system include:
- System Definition
- Contract Requirements
- Design
- Development – hardware and software
- Qualification testing of components and systems including software verification and validation to the appropriate standards.
- Quality Systems and Standards
- Flight Trials - both Manufacturer’s and MOD’s
- Certification
- Release to Service Recommendations from Boscombe Down
- RAF Release to Service including Flight Limitations
- Configuration Management
- Training of air and ground crews.
- Documentation, Publications and Orders including such vital publications as Flight Reference Cards (FRCs) – the first line of reference in any emergency.
- Servicing Recommendations
- Maintenance Standards and Responsibilities
- Recording Systems
- Defect Investigation and Feedback
The captain could argue that many of these items are well beyond his control, and possibly even knowledge, but I would suggest that even after 20 years if you know that the design is inadequate, and there seems to be plenty of continuing evidence that the Nimrod IFR installation did not meet, or come anywhere near meeting, the AvP970 design requirements for these sytems on military aircraft, then you still have an airworthiness problem as sadly has been tragically demonstrated. The problem was well known so who in the case of the Nimrod decided that they could live with it - or did the fleet just "drift" into this situation without anybody putting the pieces of the jigsaw together?
I wonder if the MRA4 gets a tick in all these boxes as well - is the design any better?
JB