"It doesn't matter how you dress it up, but human error in any single organisation (CAA?) is still human error".
True. And "an error does not become a mistake unless you refuse to fix it". (JFK)
The MoD refused. That is what this thread is about. In the CERTAIN knowledge their actions would lead to the decline in safety and airworthiness standards, the MoD refused to implement its own mandated regulations. This was NOT an omission by error; it was a deliberate decision.
This corporate and individual failure has contributed significantly to four fatal accidents since 2003 (Tornado/Patriot, Sea King, Hercules and Nimrod). If you read the BoI reports, the clear, incontrovertible linkages are there for all to see. (And if you have to ask, no answer can suffice). PRECISELY the same failures to implement process and procedures. The same underlying themes and, at a certain level, the same individuals. Not least, instructions to ignore safety and airworthiness issues, followed by disciplinary action if you didn't.
I sincerely hope the Nimrod Review has a remit which requires study of these practices, policies and decisions; and the effects. It should do. The processes and procedures are not aircraft specific, they are mandated across the MoD. They affect everyone.
On Tuesday, the press also ran a story about a Doctor who was struck off because he failed in his Duty, resulting in a mother being wrongly imprisoned for killing her child. There have been many such cases over the years, and they inevitably lead to wide ranging reviews of past cases in which the subject has been involved - and very often retrospective action. If the same legal principle is established here, natural justice dictates the good names of the Chinook pilots will be restored.