I am sorry to see that nobody apart from Chugalug wants to take up the airworthiness issues in my previous postings and that the thread continues to concentrate on the sharp end issues important as they are (the line chief and the aircrew represent the final links in the airworthiness chain for any aircraft and sortie).
However, the (pre BOI) “fact” remains that XV 230 did not crash because the captain or the line chief failed – clearly in saying this we still need to wait the BOI (which continues to be delayed so inevitably adding to informed speculation and programmes like Panorama – more need to situate the appreciation as on the Chinook perhaps?) - it crashed, if all the leaked reports are to be believed, because it was not an airworthy aircraft, and it would appear that not only was the accident predictable but it was predicted, and the rest of the Nimrod fleet may be in the same state. Why is this – because it appears that what should have been a temporary installation to meet the urgent operational needs of the Falklands War has become a permanent fit, and in the meantime other systems in the aging aircraft have been subject to deterioration, eg hot gas leaks, fuel leaks, etc. For a permanent fit the installation design should have been subject to the requirements of AvP 970 Issue 5 Part 5 Powerplant (which covers fuel systems), ) and in particular the following leaflets:
5.1.7 A full safety analysis of the system - I wonder if MOD can confirm that this was carried out for the MRA2 when MOD decided to retain the original “temporary” installation. I also wonder if it has been done for the MRA4 and what the results were/are of this analysis for both aircraft?
5.1.18 A zonal analysis of the installation to identify weak points – again I wonder it has been done for both the MRA4 and the MRA2
5.1.19 A fire analysis (for both marks of aircraft).
5.1.20 An analysis of proper fuel system functioning under all probable operating conditions including all probable equipment failures (which includes hot air leaks) should be shown for the MRA2. Is it being done for the MRA4?
Perhaps somebody can confirm that for the MRA4, even if the installation is similar, at least these analyses have been done and their results incorporated into any necessary design changes. For those who are interested AvP 970 is available on the web via
www.dstan.mod.uk
MOD had had twenty plus years to make the Nimrod IFR installation “safe” – I wonder if the BOI will address the question as to why they allegedly did not do it, or, like the Chinook BOI, ignore airworthiness issues altogether. My guess as to why it has not been done is money, just like ESF on the C130, and it is the same command chain (albeit different people) civilian and service, and bean counters as well as engineers and operators which “approves” this happening by letting airworthiness problems (which do not always have an immediate or obvious flight safety issue and which you may feel you can solve with procedures) have a low priority in the funding battle – their position is then compounded by the lower levels in the command chain continuing to accept standards, and even, with the usually commendable “can do” attitude of most people, “paper over” problems that they know have flight safety implications. No, they will not of course offer an aircraft they know at that instant to be non-airworthy or unsafe – rather they will ignore the issues they know the system has “approved” even if they do not agree with them themselves. I am guilty myself!
MOD is always short of money, but as a grumpy old man I now think that we could have had a lot of “airworthiness” and self-protection modifications for 10% of the costs of Main Building and Abbey Wood or some of the failed or late IT systems, or even the MRA4 and Typhoon over-run costs– but then when many of these decisions were made it was always going to be a cold war rather than hot peace enforcement!
Given that budgetary pressures can only get worse I guess things will only change when one of the bereaved families files a “duty of care” criminal charge against a series of people in MOD and wins the day in Court.
JB