a totally unwarranted and foolish rant
Well quite, Headstone. Of course you could have just not posted, but that would have prevented you from characterising others with whom you disagree as total ignoramuses, who know nothing at all about all the things that presumably you do know about. What do you think motivates the likes of Tucumseh, and others including myself, to post here, self aggrandisement? Hardly, for we are all conscious of the human tragedy that underlines this thread. For the most part we are serving or retired professionals in the operation, maintenance or management of military aviation. The primary concern that unites us, or should do, is Flight Safety, ie accident prevention. The RAF has an excellent track record in the development and execution of its Flight Safety system. It seems from posts here that it continues to utilise that system to the full. It is clear though that such a system is only as good as its weakest link, which would seem to be lack of money. So the system continues to scrupulously flag up deficiencies, only to have the identified shortcomings left unresolved because someone, usually in the MOD, be it 18.5 year old girl or 60 year old 4*, stops things dead in their tracks as there is no money to pay for it. That is totally unacceptable. No doubt BA would have been tempted to go for that solution after their tragic B737 fire at Manchester. They had no choice, the CAA said fit smoke hoods and floor track lighting to aid evacuation in a smoke filled cabin. BA and every other UK airline were obliged to obey. We need the same degree of obligation on the MOD to ensure that all UK military aircraft are airworthy. By definition that obligation must come from outside as it does for Civil Aviation. Oh, if some are minded to tell me that military flying is potentially dangerous anyway, of course it is. All the more reason for not making it needlessly dangerous!
Last edited by Chugalug2; 8th Aug 2007 at 18:31.