bastOn:
This is not meant to be a debating competition. More a civilised exchange of views.
Personally I think something more than either of the above is called for from participants to this thread. It is a sticky for a very good reason, its importance. What is at stake here is vital to the memory of two deceased officers, to the future of the Royal Air Force, and perhaps most importantly of all, to preventing future avoidable accidents. It is not sufficient for people to simply try to score points (and I must plead guilty to that at times, for which I am sorry), nor to sit on the fence, nor to cherry pick from this side and then that. For the most part the table has been piled high with the offerings of both those who endorse the MOD and RAF's position that the RO's findings are persuasive and correct and those like me who denounce them as incredible. It is make your mind up time, indeed has been for the last 15 years. If the outside world of Coroners, QC's, Lords and MP's comes to a final conclusion while we, the "skilled Aviators" and professional "Odds and Sods" (very much the latter group in my case) are still counting the VFR and IFR fairies inhabiting pin heads it will be a verdict on us, not them. In my view there are some very nasty nettles to be grasped here by the Military Aviation community. The very foundations upon which our profession rests are being called into question. Do we face up to that or rather stuff our fingers in our ears and "La, la, la" loudly until it all goes away? I doubt very much that it will now.