It was a requirement for aircrew to partake of breakfast before flying - though I can't, 15 years later, be specific as to whether that requirement was in STCASI's or 1 Gp ASO's.
I do recall that some 2 -3 weeks after the crash that breakfast arrangements at Northolt for those crews departing on tasks between 08 -0930 hrs were completely revised and a cooked breakfast was provided by in-flight catering after the crew had completed pre-flight planning.
That would have been just after the BOI had presented their initial findings to the AOC.
Cazatou, This substantiates my report that breakfast was previously unavailable to crews departing early in the morning. SH crews, as I already said, often flew unsocial hours and missed the fixed mealtimes which seemed to arranged to suit ground and admin staff requirements, not those of the aircrew. Someone obviously decided to actually do something about it AFTER the event. This was a management issue.
As I already said, "in-flight" meals were not routinely taken along by SH crews in NI. Food
was available to crew members in the crew-room, as SFFP has explained. It was no doubt possible for you to cruise along happily, above both MSA and small arms risk, autopilot engaged, with a chicken leg, sandwich or Mars bar to munch on. It didn't happen on SH and still doesn't in an operational theatre; the demands of low level flight just don't allow that.
Also, in NI we were routinely working in an
operational theatre. We were in UK but we were live armed and helicopters were being shot at by a very real enemy, don't forget that (I presume you were previously aware of this).
I wouldn't expect you to know what was going on as a fixed wing VIP squadron captain but in your role as a flight safety officer you should have made time to get out more so you understood the SH role a little better. There have traditionally been deficiencies in the way SH was catered for, compared to other forces. I hope these deficiencies have now been made up, but somehow I doubt it.