eMM:
In the old system, to avoid pressure of rank on the President, as soon as it was suspected that a relatively senior officer (Wing Commander or Group Captain) was likely to be blamed, then the authorities sent in a new President who outranked the suspected officer.
Well that works up to those relatively junior levels. What has emerged in this Forum however is that the "rot" went much higher, ie VSOs who issued illegal orders to suborn the Airworthiness Regulations were of 2* rank and above. No-one wants to look at that, here or elsewhere, it seems. While we all tut tut and talk of honour the UK Military Accident Investigation system remains compromised and dysfunctional. That means that more lives will be needlessly lost. You may put that down to the price of preparedness, I put it down to the price of corruption.
I am old enough to remember the "old system". It worked because good men (invariably men in those days) did their duty and put it above personal ambition. In retrospect I now see that was the only bulwark that made it work. I do not think we can rely on that happening in future as it has certainly failed to since the 1980s. Banking, Journalism, Medicine, Policing, Aviation, etc; all face a common fact:
Self Regulation Does Not Work, and in Aviation it Kills!