drustsonoferp, not sure the Inquest should be blamed for placing a great deal of focus on seniority. The Coroner would have wanted to have heard evidence from the people who had responsibility for decision making. I am sure Tuc has a view on this, since the IPT system came into being a lot of the specialist engineering knowledge and experience has either been lost or overridden.
The MoD and RAF would have had a degree of flexibilty as to who was forwarded to give evidence. I happen to know that a number of presonnel have been "moved on", "retired" etc since the Inquest. I spent a lot of time at the Herc Inquest it was very obvious, even to the layman who were the strong witnesses, who were struggling, who were being economical with the truth. I am sure the Coroner formed his own opinion on the reliabilty of the witnesses.
I do understand your underlying point. For a long time I did not believe the Nimrod was ALARP, EdSett's answer was most helpful in understanding this issue.