" To make a Fitness for Purpose judgement, one must first be confident the aircraft is airworthy"
The problem with all this become obvious when you consider things like the AAR Hercules/Seaking Mk2/Dambusters Lancaster/ etc
These aircraft were needed, wildly successful and blatantly would never pass the airworthiness process in the timeframes required or indeed ever.
Somebody bravely took a gamble with other peoples lives that they would get away with it.
That is what he was paid to do.
It is the military, and sometimes the correct thing to do gets good guys killed.
Under todays "Duty Holder" cr@p, somebody will go to jail.
I have a very simple question for you.
Do you honestly believe that we should never build a short notice back of a fag packet aircraft?
Because that is what the airworthiness regime you crave will ensure.
Nowadays, the military is going outside the military system into the civilian system to build soime of it's aircraft because of the vastly less stringent airworthiness requirments, and then dragging them across onto the military register.
That is insane!!!!
If a civvy certified engineer can fit a wescam to a helicopter in about a week and a quick sketch on a fag packet then why can we not?!?!?