There may well be individuals with a troubled conscience delighted that this thread has suffered a bull**** runaway up. Most professional aviators would look here to seek answers to a surreal and very sad accident in which people died aboard what appears to have been a 100% serviceable aeroplane.
Military standards and ethos do seem to have descended to a point that is legally negligent, but this did not happen overnight, and the individuals that fed the decline may well have long gone from the Puma fleet yet read these words. Reasons or explanations have been covered in depth already and it appears that the system is taking it on the chin, along with Nimrod & Tutor outcomes which sadly hit the headlines at the same time.
Bickering over media presentation and litter is a tangent that will rapidly make this thread one worth avoiding, and that would mean that comments worth reading would be missed. Please gents can we set aside the crap and get back to the point.
As an aside, my thoughts are taken to the actions of the Army in Ireland (Eire) post WW1, where soldiers whose childhood was robbed by the barbaric scenes of the Somme were subsequently deployed (post WW1) to provide 'peace keeping' in Eire. The excuses given by history for their inexcusable treatment of civpop was that a bloodied soldier only knows violence and that the violence repeated in a civil environment was understandable if not acceptable. Why do I say this? .....because if this element of history is normal then surely we run the risk of conflict experienced ["immortal"] personnel behaving outside the boundaries of acceptable behaviour in all military services in the 21st century. I am sure a weeks post-op holiday in Cyprus will not stop a bar brawl in Aldershot by a highly stressed Para.
My experience on the Puma force involved a lot of fun flying, and don't worry 'Seldom' you wont be needing a hammer & nails from me! However the crew conversation always included a briefing and on only one occasion (in 3 tours) was I not confident of having an escape route. That was my first experience of the Eastern Branch, and those that have will know what I mean. I have seen people who should know better push the boundaries (QHI completing an IF recovery with embedded CBs to get to NI from Scotland) but I hasten to add that my Captain did not and waited the few hours for a clearance. I think the the PQ's of the crew probably paid a significant part of this accident and wonder who could, and should of, broke the chain.