Dervish, excellent posts, Sir! You get to the very nub of a general malaise not only in airworthiness provision but also in airworthiness appreciation. The lack of interest and awareness by pilots in particular of this vital protection and safeguard, not only of their backsides, but also of those that they take with them into the wide blue yonder, is only too apparent in many posts on this forum. I can only assume that this seeming contempt for something that should be central to the professional pilot philosophy has been spread almost deliberately by the Forces of Evil that prevailed over the destruction of UK Military Airworthiness. As tuc points out, remove the follow up action to Flight Safety related reporting and the need and effectiveness of doing so is soon replaced in peoples minds with the feeling that it is a waste of time. Move one stage on and Flight Safety itself is a waste of time. Rufty, tufty members have posted as much in this Military Forum. Those who champion airworthiness reform here are seen to be riding a Hobby Horse, pushing their own agenda, and deflecting from the single declared intent of simply reversing the Finding of Pilot Gross Negligence.
Time perhaps we confront this issue square on. No-one knows for sure why Chinook HC2 ZD576 crashed on the Mull slopes in 1994. Not Wratten, not Day, not the BoI, the FAI, the HoL, the HoC, nor the Coroner, nor will we ever know for sure. The only thing we now know for sure is that ZD576 was Grossly Unairworthy, along with all its sister HC2's.
Those three preceding sentences, if accepted, mean that the Air Marshals' Finding is untenable and should be reversed by the Royal Air Force. It promulgated it in the first place, it alone can reverse it. Not to put to fine a point on it, its honour has been sullied ever since.
The real reason why Mull is so important to modern military aviation is that it then signalled the reckless criminal cost of the deliberate destruction of UK Military Airworthiness. That signal was not heeded then and has only been partially heeded since. More than 60 lives have been lost and still all we have is the typically British fudge of an "independent" MAA but within the MOD! More lives still will be lost if this isn't properly and professionally resolved. Nothing short of a completely separate and independent Regulator and Accident Investigator will suffice, ie a truly independent MAA and MAAIB. It's your backside, and even more important than yours are the other backsides that are strapped into your aircraft.
Hobby Horse? Maybe, but I for one don't intend climbing down from this one until it is properly stabled and the door bolted!