bastOn:
The wider problems of the MOD and those who failed in their duty of care and so on and so on are very well put and I hope that they will be embarrassed into improving their performance - but don't hold your breath.
The other side of this is why did two pilots fly into a rock - and that is the morbidly fascinating problem that I wrestle with over and over again. It has happened before and will happen again. The last few minutes of flight hold the key to the accident to my mind.
So to sum up; guilty men at MOD rumbled and banged to rights but RAF CoC proved to be "Good Men, those Men" who have succinctly got the essence of the thing and come out with the right finding. Is that a fair resume, bastOn? I can see the attraction there for the RAF, but not for the NoK or for that matter, as if it mattered, me. Chocks Wahay directed us to this link. I would commend it to all:
House of Lords - Chinook ZD 576 - Report
Therein the very foundation of the RAF case is swept away with precise and polite ease. In particular Sir John Day's "facts" are shown to be merely assumptions, some of which don't bear scrutiny anyway. The same link covers the evidence of the much maligned Sqn Ldr Burke. The hound who didn't bark, well not to the BoI anyway. The combination of evidence by both witnesses points up the dysfunctional nature of the RAF's Accident Investigation by both BoI and RO's. Read what Sqn Ldr Burke has to say about 1,2 and 3 axis loss of control as well as uncommanded power from the FADEC's all of which he experienced on a number of occasions. Then let your imagination dwell on those last few minutes of flight that concern you. This accident started in the MOD and finished with the RAF. They both failed the 29 people who died on the Mull. The former by forcing an unairworthy aircraft into service, the latter for covering that up. RAF Officers of Air Rank were involved in both decisions.