SM
the team patently had no real heavyweight experts in actual practical safety management, risk or cultural assesment.
That’s patently not correct.
I don’t know the full backgrounds of all members of the team but I do happen to know one of them quite well.
Roger Whitefield's career to date includes:
BOAC/BA:
Captain VC10
Training Captain Tristar and B747
Training Manager B747 fleet
Technical Manager
Chief Pilot
General Manager Flight Ops
Chief Air Safety Investigator
Head of Corporate Safety
After retiring from BA:
Safety Advisor to the Qantas Board. (Retired Dec 2010)
Non-Exec Member of the UK CAA Board, incl serving on the Safety Regulation Committee. (Current)
Chairman of Air Safety Support International since 2006. (Member from 2005) ASSI was set up by the UK Department for Transport to help provide a more cohesive system of civil aviation safety regulation in the UK Overseas Territories. (Current)
Sensibly, and IMHO to their credit, AF deliberately chose experts from other cultures in order "to combine French and Anglo-Saxon mindsets." Only one member of the team is French.
FL