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Old 5th May 2010, 13:59
  #6322 (permalink)  
Chugalug2
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Sussex
Age: 82
Posts: 4,743
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Point taken tuc, and I am not trying to ascribe a 'verdict' to any legal case that might or might not finally determine the culpability or lack of it for this accident by anyone, be they junior or senior in the food chain. My point is, as an ex-pilot, that if the case that Robin puts forward was found to be a compelling one and was indeed reflected in the finding of a new BoI/ Accident Investigation/ Military Inquiry, or whatever the beast is now called, it would probably be one of pilot error. We must remember that it is 'only' an administrative finding, a verdict requiring a charge and full legal hearing by a civil or military court. Whether the kit was legal, the aircraft airworthy, or the weather tricky, it was the responsibility of the pilots to maintain VMC and to ensure the safe navigation of their aircraft. I have no doubt that is exactly what these two pilots did, until they were overwhelmed by something far more dramatic than an incorrect set of co-ordinates in the nav computer, for whatever reason. In other words you Court Martial the Senior Officers charged with the Gross Negligence that you describe but still find, by MI, the accident cause as pilot error if the facts were found to be as Robin described, rather than as I suspect. I hasten to add that this would be in accordance with the protocols as they existed some 40 years ago and, like me, could have been long since superseded by younger and more virile ones!
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