I would like to put the Investigation Board's chairman Mr van Vollenhoven's remarks into perspective.
He is NOT an investigator nor an aviation professional.
He is a member of the royal family (married to the Queen's sister) and somehow it seems to be a honorary job.
It also seems to me that he enjoys being in the spotlight.
Nevertheless he has done it for quite some time and is not much criticized.
For those that do not know Mr van Vollenhoven:
The "Mr" is not a generic gender title. In Dutch, this signifies a Masters degree in Law. He also happens to be a University Professor (in Risk Management and independent investigation into Government Policy) but that part of his title is normally not mentioned. He's not a dumb fellow. Not by a fair margin.
He's been busy with transport safety since at least the last 25 years and it is through his efforts that the Netherlands has a completely independent board of investigation for transport accidents - the Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid (OVV), which is the successor of the Raad voor Transportveiligheid (RvTV). This board is, by law, tasked with investigating airline accidents for the sole purpose of making air transport safer. The results of these investigations may not be, under any circumstances, used for criminal/civil lawsuits and the like. That's why you see the Attorney General starting its own, independent investigation right now.
The OVV can be thought of as the US NTSB but where the NTSB is limited to investigating transport accidents, the scope of the OVV is far wider. They can basically investigate any accident as and when they please, although by law they have to investigate certain types of accidents, including airline accidents. And their conclusions are not ignored. For example, an earlier investigation by the Raad, into the fire in the asylum seekers cell complex at Schiphol, where 11 people died, led to the resignation of two cabinet ministers.
To dismiss his role as head of the board as honorary because he happens to be a Royal Family member and enjoys being in the spotlight is NOT appropriate. He earned that position.
Although I do question some of the statements he made. After visiting the accident site, at least 24 hours after the crash, he did not even know the distance from the site to the threshold.
Oh yes, and he happens to be married to the sister of the Queen. Is that relevant? Probably not anymore, although in the past it might have given him easier access to the higher levels of government.