Jim
Your point
Before this accident, there was no imperative to speed up development in any area
sums up my point really well - but do we really have to rely on people dying to trigger a move to improve? We all knew that HUMS had not moved on from its infancy - Smiths/GE at least tried to do something but not many were listening.
You are right that its perhaps not primarily a function of money, its probably primarily a function of interest from the industry. Someone (a body or an individual) has to "own" a project like that and push it along, otherwise it stagnates with or without money.
HC