A bit confused....................
I may be talking from ignorance and about to put the cat amongst the pigeons, but here goes.
Consider the following, and there is a point to this:
Two young Police Constables are on night duty in a police car. A swift machine with blue lights, sirens etc. The night's action has quietened down so it's time to see how fast the motor will go.
Whilst the police car is travelling at a rate of knots, a car pulls out of a nearside junction just giving the driver time to react and avoid a collision. This incident was 24 years ago, but the passenger can still recall it in vivid detail.
A seconds difference may well have resulted in a high speed crash, death, injury and a prison sentence if the driver had survived the impact.
The chances of the above situation occurring, and at the crucial moment catastrophic mechanical failure putting in an appearence are / were minute.
Leap forward some 20 odd years and there is a Puma charging over the countryside, at speed obviously. As in 1985, you have a young man in charge of a powerful machine, one on the ground, one in the air and we have Human Nature. Sometimes the envelope is pushed.
There have been many incidents since and they will continue to occur, no doubt.
The majority of you reading will have worked out where I fit in with this story. I am not a military aviator, but I am the son of one so have heard the stories, bravado aside.
It is tragic when an aviator 'goes in' as they / you are like me, have family, enjoy a beer, enjoy a game of rugby etc, but we are talking of human beings here.
I am not sighted on the result of the BOI, but maybe somebody just made a mistake. The state of Gate Guardians or a Group Captain not wearing a hat is completely and totally irrelevant.
Whether you are a young Police Constable or a Flt Lt, S*#t Happens.
You must understand I have the upmost respect for military aviators of all services, but you are humans, not robots.
Kindest Regards.
tarantonight.