I do NOT know what happened on 230 other than what I have read on here and heard first hand from some Nimrod colleagues who were in theatre at the time.
First off Winco were those colleagues "in theatre at the time" in B or S. If S, then give the initials of at least 1 of them and then I will be able to tell whether you are a total bull
er or not.
I'm with VR at the moment, in that I'm not seeing any great fear of flying the jet. With regard AAR then it is definitely true to say that a lot of people would have an issue with doing that. The Stn Cdr has canvassed the views of some of guys on the Sqns about this, so nobody would be able to claim that he is adopting the 'Ivory Tower' approach. Unfortunately, he and a select few have an advantage over the rest of us in that they have had sight of the BOI. At present I am waiting to see this for myself so that I can make my own fully informed decisions without being influenced by the latest sensationalist headlines in the local rag.
However, at the end of the day flying is, and always will be, a risky occupation. Hopefully most people realised that when they signed on the dotted line. Yes I would hope that the risk is reduced to as low as humanly possible, but inevitably there is only so much money to go round, so it may be that we have to accept that things we would like done to the jet can't be afforded. Do we all drive around in the safest car there is, or do some of us decide we can't afford it and thus take some risk?
There have been a few individuals that have declared themselves unwilling to fly in the aftermath of 230. They have been removed from the frontline, and to my mind they should also be removed from the Service. Just imagine frontline troops being unwilling to go on Patrol because they might get shot at. I thought that the latest incident might be the final straw for a couple of others, but I have heard no evidence of this. Personally I feel that if they are going to be flying without being totally focussed on the job, because they are 'worried', then I would prefer they weren't there; effectively that means that once the BOI is published it's put up or shut up time.
Despite all the above though I do think that the Nimrod fleet is in a place it shouldn't be at present. AAR was rushed in as a UOR, but I can see no evidence that anyone ever thought to go back and have a good look at things afterwards. If they had, I would have hoped that the 'issues' with AAR that have come to light since 230 would have come to light a lot sooner. Whether that would have changed the outcome for 230 I do not know, but I have my own strong suspicion.
As for STFs on frontline ac conducting Ops, don't get me started!