Seems blatantly obvious that someone in high office became exasperated and decided it was time the Chinook HC2 went into squadron service, despite all common sense saying it wasn't ready.
There was no aircrew manual, and no flight reference cards for the type. The Mk2 was, in aircrew terms, in many respects very much a new type (although it looked externally much like the previous version).
The MOD airworthiness procedure was simply short circuited, ignored, forgotten, bulldozed or over-ruled, simply because helicopter availability in NI (an operational theatre and a political "hot potato") was at a very low point.
Crews were given a conversion to type and told to "get on with it" despite the shortcomings and lack of normal essential documentation for emergency procedures.
Why did they "just get on with it"? Because being told to "get on with it" is what military personnel are disciplined to do, from day one. They make the best of a bad job. In an operational theatre they must do so, the system demands it implicitly. Crews who object sufficiently strongly to an order are likely to be given formal disciplinary action. I know of one case where this occurred, during the Falklands war, again on a Chinook Squadron. A pilot stood up for what he believed to be correct, out of operational concern for the safety of the aircraft and lives of their aircrew. His concern was ignored. Not only that, he also received formal disciplinary action and was removed from his post. It effectively ended his RAF career. However, he was proved to be correct in his concern. If his concern had been addressed in a more positive way, we would probably have had more than one Chinook for the Falkands campaign. The rest went down with the Atlantic Conveyor. Those saying that this crew should simply have refused to fly should bear this sort of thing in mind. Jon Tapper probably did..
Why was the normal airworthiness procedure allowed to "no longer apply" to the Chinook Mk2?
The "new" Mk2 aircraft were in fact rebuilt Mk1s. To obtain a Mk2 they had to remove an RAF Mk1 from squadron service.
Someone, probably to save face for the RAF, stuck his neck out and took a huge gamble. We know the result.