Good to see some positive attitudes displayed on what has become a thread of somewhat entrenched positions. Whether Sir John, or for that matter anyone else, wishes to 'fess up and admit they got it wrong is for them to decide upon. Whether their presumed apologies thereafter satisfy the next of kin of those who have been so grossly maligned ever since that grotesque finding was published is, I would suggest, for the next of kin alone. What is clear to me is summarised perfectly above by flipster:
The AMs had a responsibility and a military duty to our troops under fire in NI, to run an effective SH operation - but the RAF had too few aircraft because of delays in the Chinook HC2 modification programme. As a result, the AMs took the decision to bring the HC2 in to Service early. Unfortunately, the ac was palpably not definitively airworthy nor truly fit for purpose because of shortcomings in the procurement process and the overall ac design; in short, the design (mainly the engine controls) was 'immature'.
The irreconcilable tasks, to get the Chinook Mk2 into service ASAP for urgent operational use while upholding the MOD's own Airworthiness Regulations, were always beyond the abilities of the MOD or any one man or woman, no matter how august their rank. This wretched saga has shown in Spades that self-regulation does not work and in aviation it kills. Military Airworthiness Regulation and Air Accident Investigation must be removed from the MOD and RAF respectively and placed into the hands of independent authorities established for those purposes, as with civil aviation, or we are doomed forever to witness ever more avoidable accidents and deaths.