Certainly the 2 on board made mistakes, planning and judgement were non existant and they have paid a high price, they are not in a position to answer any flak that we throw at them on this forum.
Controllers remarks maybe judged as flippant/unhelpful, but I would bet none of us would wish to swap seats with him on that dreadful night.
The actions of others will be examined at the inquest, points that are touched on in the aaib report (such as maint records for the aircraft, judgement of experienced instructors/examiners, who actually owned the aircraft, whether the flight was conducted in or outside of the FTO's remit etc etc ), indeed some of these issues have already been scrutinised by the CAA.
I instruct at Blackpool, I know the background to the whole sorry saga well, but have no axe to grind with any of the parties involved, however it bothers me when I see no soul searching, no lessons learned, and opportunity for this all to occur again...
Last edited by horsebox; 17th Apr 2008 at 20:11.