Sideways:
There but the grace of god and all that
Well Amen to that, for if that isn't one's first reaction to a fellow aviator's demise then the essential truth that we are all fallible has been lost, which eventually catches up with one and has others in turn reciting "there but for the Grace of God..." Perhaps that is what happened here, but aviation has been around long enough for us all to know that the essential self discipline has to be reinforced by external means, by Regulation, Training and Supervision. That is not only for Commercial Aviation, it is for all Aviation, be it from flying clubs, airports or military units. If this accident had happened to a Civilian Helicopter Operator the CAA would be down on it like a ton of bricks. The difference here is the CAA is not the Regulatory Authority, the MOD is. The trouble there is that the MOD is also essentially the operator, or rather its "subsidiary", the RAF is. So will the MOD come down on itself like a ton of bricks? As in law one looks for a precedent, and looks, and looks...