back on thread!!
My God, how glad am I that I am an Ex-Mil ATCO!! The individual concerned was an ARTS instructor of mine some years back (Course 141 - what a drink-ex that was!!). I wish him all the best and I hope he is coping well.
WBS whilst it might be true the N-N may not be strictly correct in all that was posted, my understanding is that the flight was under a RIS at the time of the accident. If that was the case, then Terrain Clearance ultimately remained the pilot’s responsibility.
Mickydrip, now that the date has been published do you know what charges are actually being levelled. I have been unable to get any info on that and I am at a loss to know what the RAF hierarchy and the MoD legal people think that they can get away with. Whatever it is they are pushing on regardless and I think this raises a huge question for other controllers – both mil and civil. That is, if it happens to you how the hell do you pay for it? I know many RAF controllers joined GATCO for the simple reason that Legal costs were provided as part of their membership and all could see the direction in which the MoDs view of corporate liability and the support (or total lack of it) of the troops was going.
On an earlier thread in this forum there was a discussion as to how much Legal support was available from GATCO (a question raised in response to this issue I believe). The informed opinion at the time went for £50K (as it turns out, an all too accurate figure) and it is frightening to think that before the case has even made it into a courtroom this sum has been used up completely. What are controllers supposed to do at that point – roll over and say to the MoD, “yeah O.K, I know you haven’t got a case but as I haven’t got any money, so you win”. I should bl**dy well hope not! It may be that civil controllers could also use their Union to augment the GATCO money (can someone offer a yea/nay on this please) but that option is not open to the boys and girls in Blue (light or dark). It seems to me that individual (or group) professional liability insurance is fast becoming a must – but how much will that all cost, will you get help towards paying it, etc?
On the Mil Aircrew forum (under the thread about HMS Nottingham) somebody expressed the opinion that Courts Martial could, potentially, also be used to provide formal, conclusive proof of the innocence of an accused. So is this all a big ploy to appease the Americans, whilst at the same time making it patently obvious that the controller has done nothing wrong – looking at recent history (Chinook, Mull of Kintyre), I think not!! If it is, it is a damned expensive way to go about it and it is despicably cruel on the poor guy at the centre of it all – surely there is somebody with b*lls big enough to have stopped this in it’s tracks.
This is the first step onto what could become a very slippery slope, in the words of my sex education teacher - don't go out without protection!!