PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Flt Lt C. D. Jenkins, RAF Aldegrove, Antrim
Old 8th Feb 2002, 21:05
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fobotcso
 
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I suspect that "moral courage" is often used an excuse for blind and illogical thinking.

Corporate and institutional bullying has always been present in the Armed Forces and this case will always be remembered as the very essence of it. Ultimately it was the reason for my (slightly) early departure. It exists at all levels; I have known Group Captains bully Wing Commanders and Air Vice Marshals who bullied Squadron Leaders. There will always be a few who can't help it when they find themselves in a position to abuse their power. When it is done so publicly and from such a high level, bullying of two dead men is incomprehensible.

In the pub the other day I found some sensible people who felt that Wratten/Day might be right. It took only a few moments to remind them of the circumstances and to convince them that the Lords were right.

I did BoI on a (still) unexplained double fatal many years ago. The elapsed time from their final cheerful R/T call to radar "Clear on top at 60" to impact at over 600 kts under a 1200ft ceiling with good visibility was less than 15 seconds! Twenty seconds is an eternity in which things can go wrong with an aircraft.

But let's remember, that's not the issue. Whatever Tapper and Cook may have done or not done there is no evidence that they were negligent and it is an abuse of power to fly in the face of logical deduction from the facts and say they were.

Jenks is clearly an outstanding team player; I suspect that he will find support from directions that will suprise us all. And I hope that's not just my natural optimism coming through.
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