Beags, couldn't agree more with your comments about sticking the knife in without good reason.
Initiating a MAYDAY call is common practice by the operating pilot in the event of EFATO and is a call with which every pilot should be familiar. Comms in Afg are notoriously poor, the Captain correctly continued to make RT transmissions until a response was received/relayed.
The crew were criticized for failing to complete the post AAR checklist and field approach check list. However, the Air Eng allowed the fuel pressure to dissipate in the refuelling gallery and completed a purge of the probe before landing. He was clearly continuing to carry out his duties dilligently. The Captain had initiated a break out and presumably an emergency rate/speed descent, but still managed to brief procedures in the event of a ground evacuation and gave thought to opening up the bomb bay doors in the limited time available to him. Clearly, the Captain was fully in control of events and was thinking ahead and managing the high workload situation in a highly professional way.
The only person whose judgement I would question is CAS, Sir Glenn Torpy. He was the person who sat on essential information contained in the BoI. He must have known about safety concerns regarding AAR on the Nimrod front line but chose to do nothing. Indeed he publically pronounced the safety of AAR on a television program. After this incident AAR was suspended and has now been banned!
Latest rumour reaching my ears following the tear down at Boscombe, is very worrying. I won't state what I have heard publically, but I and many others are watching closely.
Last edited by nigegilb; 24th Sep 2008 at 15:50.