Sun
His remit was slightly vague but I know assurances were sought in Parliament (as I've seen the Ministerial replies) that BOTH ACM Sir Clive Loader's recommendations would be addressed. That is (a) the systemic failings on Nimrod and (b) other aircraft should be assessed (as the regulations apply equally to them, and the same individuals were involved - and I don't mean junior officers like Gp Capt Baber).
Also, Coroner Walker had stated, rightly or wrongly, that these problems had existed on Nimrod since 1969. This should have been verified.
My own opinion is that, because the safety management regulations apply in all domains (Air, Land and Sea), only diverging late in the day when airworthiness must be considered on Air platforms, it was patently obvious the systemic failings applied elsewhere as well.
So, it should be asked why, given the above, H-C didn't go back further than 1999 - especially as the evidence presented to him was irrefutable. One answer - it protected certain current serving staffs.
The most obvious outcome was him naming and shaming individuals connected with Nimrod, while failing to name those more senior who had actually issued orders that safety could be ignored; who, notoriously, took disciplinary action against those who disobeyed. I don't want to seem flippant but, if anything, Baber's "offence" was to disobey this stated policy and let a (very badly managed) Safety Case task. Many others considered this a complete waste of money and didn't bother.
I have said before that anyone reading the H-C report is left thinking there must be a classifed version with a broader scope which is even more damning. Having managed to compartmentalise the report, in doing so protecting the usual suspects, it is telling that we now have a Military Airworthiness Authority, not a Nimrod Airworthiness Authority or a dose of salts run through the Nimrod IPTs. Also, across all domains, we are seeing a resurrection of Quality Control and Assurance not seen since the disbanding of DGDQA. What remains unclear is if MoD are implementing the recommendations of previous reports which I can assure you were infinitely more damning that Haddon-Cave. (Something else H-C didn't mention).