Downsizer
I agree about RAF Armourers were doing the Bang-Seat but I believe the Coroner couldn't apportion blame to the company or RAF. She did award a verdict of "accidental death" due to a lack of or conflicting evidence.
Coroner Jacqueline Lake told jurors that accident investigators had concluded that a locking device which prevented an ejector seat from slipping when a jet is flying upside-down had not been properly fitted.
But RAF technicians who fitted and checked the seat at Marham said it had been correctly installed.
Mrs Lake said: "There is a clear conflict of evidence in this respect."
A senior RAF technician suggested that a spring inside the device might have broken, but experts who conducted an investigation said that scenario was "very unlikely".
I also believe that the company had their part to play within this tragedy:
"The whole post maintenance generation process was delayed, but BAE had to try and get that airtest carried out that day due to contractural arrangements with the MoD. The aircrew may not have been "presurising" but BAE managers were in the office, every half hour."
So sadly I suspect that "two tangoed" in this accident where "mistakes" almost certainy killed a good mate - unfortunately "mistakes" are not good for the old adage "Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect."
The B Word