Sven;
"Well, **** happens and I would not try to defend the record of the military winch - specially as we don't seem to have enough to fit them in all required machines in Afg."
I wish you hadn't said that. We were trying to move this thread back to hard fact and not the "Vicky Pollard" style of debate. (This is not an attack on you but a comment that in your innocence you have have re-opened a wound with your remark; a remark that I think is considered and unprovocative. However I fear someone might "bite".)
Someone is now going to say;
"The military winch is perfect because it was designed by a pilot with 120 years experience of military SAR flying."
"The military winch is flawed because the SAR pilot had no knowledge of SAR winching because he had been flying up front and had not operated a winch for 120 years."
"The military winch was chosen for the helicopter by a civilian engineer who had only 120 years experience of civilian winching and had no grasp of winching military casualties."
"The casualties had only been winched regularly for 120 years by civilian crews and had no understanding of the requirements of military winching."
"Advice given by military winchers should not be applied to winching in a civilian context unless they have been offered lucrative employment with the civilian winch manufacturer."
"Advice given by military winchers should be or not be applied to winching in any context despite them having been offered lucrative employment with the civilian winch manufacturer."
"Although the military advisers were not actually winchers their advice should have been taken except where it should not."
"While civilian winchers were alleged to be advised by military winchers the military winchers gave their advice on the understanding that it did not specicifically apply except where it was specified in retrospect to apply."
"The civilian winch adviser should not be listened to in case he is right and other parties are proved wrong."
I hope he doesn't pick his line from the above, but I fear he will.
Now back to the point of this little interlude in the thread.
There was a winch glitch. Normally no one would notice or care but it comes on top of a number of other minor problems which accumulate to destroy a reputation. That is the point.