You blokes slag off the press for getting it wrong and here is a journalist (ex-Aircrew), doing the right thing and trying to get expert help and input. He may or may not have Łucked up in the Gulf War (even if he did it's ten years ago) and he may have quite naturally basked in the media spotlight, but he's doing a good job now, isn't sheltering behind some anonymous username, and is honest and upfront about what he wants.
The only thing he has done wrong is to open another bleedin' thread on the Chinook, when it would be more convenient for all of us if there was just the one.
But if I might chuck in my two-pennorth, I'd like to know the answers to these questions.
1) To what extent is Wratten's case a self-interested one? If the more logical explanation is true, how much $hit sticks to him?
2) Did Boscombe Down not give it an MAR? Why not? Did they give it a Service Deviation (if so why?, and were they pressured to do so?)?
3) Is there any truth in the story that the TPs at Boscombe had refused to fly the HC.Mk 2?
4) What did Odiham's then TP think of it?
5) Why did we buy a Chinook 2 with DECS when the RAF's engineers had suggested that this was unnecessary, insufficiently mature, and likely to be prone to trouble?
YO-YO Are you certain enough (and the BOI's verdict required absolute certainty) that it was negligence. A gut feeling on the basis of the evidence (and/or knowledge of the blokes involved) isn't enough. I'm not being aggressive, but how can you ignore the whole DECS issue as a potential factor, Boscombe's supposed lack of faith, etc.
PS: John Nichol, E-Mail me your contact details and I'll happily give you a bell. Alternatively, Andy G at R4 Today may have some good contacts after his piece.
[This message has been edited by Jackonicko (edited 21 June 2000).]