We would not ask our personnel to fly in aircraft we did not believe were safe
Air Marshal Sir Barry Thornton, Chief of Materiel (Air),
Bob Ainsworth
Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne MP
We had the same assurances in the immediate aftermath of the crash, this is what some of the people at the sharp end thought then...
“It’s not a nice place to work just now,” one Nimrod crew member said. “Confidence in both the aircraft and the hierarchy are at an all time low. Ground crew are leaving in droves and a number of aircrew, pilots, engineers and back end [surveillance operators], are jumping ship. More worrying are the six major leaks we have had since the accident and the hurry to resume air-to-air refueling after each one.”
“We've not heard a dicky bird then suddenly the ACC [the then Air Component Commander] in the Gulf wants us airborne and tanker capable again. So, we had a jet air-to-air refueling over Kandahar four days after the accident!! Unbelievable. I can't see how that could ever possibly be considered to be good risk management.”
http://timesonline.typepad.com/mick_...andal_of_.html
Why would anyone believe a word that Ainsworth et al say?