In his statement to Parliament and to the Press on 4 December Des Browne said:
The BOI established the most probable cause of the fire and subsequent loss of XV230 and in doing so identified failings for which the MOD must take responsibility.
He then added:
My Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that a similar accident cannot occur again. (He did not mention that it almost had with the still, as far as I am aware, unknown cause fuel leak which led to the incident of 5 November 2007 - even though this had already happened.) We are learning the lessons from the accident and have already implemented many (but not all, and some are still incomplete) of the 33 recommendations of the BOI report. On the basis of these actions, the CAS's professional judgement is that the Nimod fleet is safe to fly. I have accepted his advice. I have, however, decided to put in place a review of the arrangements for assuring airworthiness and safe operation of the Nimrod MR2. (This is the Inquiry led by Mr Haddon Cave, which has yet to report its findings.)
So, until this independent Inquiry reports it would seem that whilst senior management are, led by CAS, saying the aircraft is safe (and is obviously being kept serviceable) they cannot, as yet, be assured that it is airworthy - perhaps somebody here knows differently or can comment further on progress with the Inquiry's findings and the availabilty of this "assurance".
There was a question as to where the BOI can be found - the link to the online version of the full BOI is at:
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Ab...odMr2Xv230.htm
JB