Chugalug
I am also amazed at the view taken by some.
If this flight had not ended in tragedy no-one would be any the wiser or care about it. The fact that it ended in tragedy means that it became everyone’s business.
An analogy. 44 ton truck at 56mph driving down the M20 in a glorious summers dawn. Mist patches about, damp road, whisps of drifting fog. East European driver over his hours, had complained to his boss about the brakes fading, told to get on with it or lose his job, wife had left him, on the phone to his girlfriend who tells him she is pregnant by another man as he enters a fog bank. Slams on the brakes and stops 4” short of Fiat Panda with ICAN standard family, 2+2 and small dog. No story – lots of rules broken but no judgement or prosecution. If he had stopped four feet further on causing horrific crash, jumps out and survives, all the vehicles catch fire destroying most of the evidence he would have had the book thrown at him, been locked up and the keys thrown away. If the Chinook had landed with a bit of heather round the wheels it would have been the same scenario, breakfast, un-airworthiness and all that, but without the tragic ending and no judgement would have been made upon the crew.
That’s why the last part of the flight is so crucial.