THOR
Hullo again!
There was nothing wrong with the aircraft and they just carelessly flew it into the Mull - therefore Gross Negligence
I just don't take that view point. I think that there degrees of error and carelessness and gross negligence is the top of the tree. Take a personal incident of mine - I hit a dead tree whilst flying low over the jungle. Now dead trees are notoriously difficult to see against the backdrop and I dinged a tip. No doubt about it - pilot error - too low - not a good enough lookout.
Gross negligence? - no. If I had been beating up the Gurkhas in a clearing - hit a bigger tree - crashed - killed a few people - gross negligence. Court marshall had I survived but what if I had died and there were no credible witnesses left? Bees in the cockpit or on the balance of probability I had ****** it up in spades? What would Hine say?
In this instance I think we are in the "Nibbled to death by ducks" syndrome - but the final act, in all probability on the evidence available was "Pilot error". Not a huge damnation of the crew but a gentle reminder to us all that simple mistakes can have consequences far beyond the simple error, especially as in this case the VVIP load in the back moved the whole disaster up the scale. Had the aircraft been empty would be here now?
Hit a tree in Borneo - no problem - Windsor Great Park whilst the Queen was out riding, man with camera phone, Daily Mirror...........?
See where I am coming from?
David