KeithL,
I hope the "pilot who asked not to be named" is discovered and outed and appropriately dealt with. Would he want his own final "desperate calls" to be published to the world?
All right, lots of people heard the mayday - but it was a fellow pilot who broke the code.
Personally I find the "leaked" Mayday call which I note that you do not discount as false as extremely illuminating and also quite horrific at the same time.
I have also avoided commenting for several weeks on the previous Bond ditching (as a long time close friend of the Captain involved since 1971) and the Cougar crash but feel that the apparent leak about the Mayday call (if true) is possibly the most relevant comment amongst all the sanctimonious drivel that precedes almost any accident discussion on this forum.
IMHO - I wouldn't give a **** if my final Mayday call was made public if it indicated that something catastrophic beyond my ability to control was taking place and I didn't even have the time to communicate the nature of the problem. If nothing else transpires - it gives the AAIB the impetus to dig until they find out what broke.
Are we pilots trying to survive in this World that we have chosen to inhabit or a bunch of Freemason-like individuals with some kind of mindset where we consider anyone who dares speak to the press a
fellow pilot who broke the code.
Trog