Day 4 Thursday 30 Jan 03
Day 4, Thursday 30th January 03
I’ve just remembered who the Judge Advocate resembles – Wilfred Hyde White (who I hear you say!?); it’s true to say that we’ve all warmed to him, although after what the landlady said, I’m not sure he’d want to be part of this particular group!
Not a dynamic day today – the Prosecutions’ big hitter was expected to make an appearance but was not called; the strong rumour is that he’ll be first on stage tomorrow, I’ll let you know tomorrow. Incidentally, tomorrows posting might be a bit behind the curve as we’re all shipping out and heading home but, be patient, it’ll get there.
Prosecution called 5 witnesses: 1 on the current strength @ Leuchars, also the Supervisor on the day of the incident, the President of the Board of Enquiry (Wg Cdr Navigator) plus 2 controllers from Lossiemouth who were on the landline to receive Spots handover of Bite 21, the 2 F15’s.
Lots of old ground was covered once again, RIS/RAS and Radar Vector Chart featuring very heavily throughout. 2 questions from the Defence team elicited correct answers, the importance of which were not lost on the Board (I hope). The subject was ‘descent to low level’, having accepted that the Radar Vectoring Chart refers to QFE and is only designed for the recovery of inbound aircraft “Can an aircraft quite properly be cleared to descend to 4000ft ?” – Answer “Yes”. “Am I right in thinking that the height an aircraft descends to is a matter of the pilots choosing?” – Answer, “Yes”. Why are we still here I hear you ask!
The Prosecution placed great credence on the map produced for the Board of Enquiry by the President of same (as stated, a Navigator). This map had been produced from information provided by Scottish Military and the RCC,h was converted from range and bearing information into Lat & Long for plotting purposes. All looked good until the Defence QC asked for the accuracy of the plotting data and was told it was about a quarter of a mile on that scale of map. When asked how accurate was the radar data provided by Scottish, the witness did not know. Additionally he was unable to confirm that the software used by RCC to convert the data was calibrated, and to what scale. The map showed the crash site as being on the summit, in fact the aircraft hit about 500metres to the East of the peak. The last straw was when questioned about the drawn track between the last position report and what was purported to be the crash site (it appears as a straight line), the witness confirmed that he’d drawn the straight line himself; the fighters could, of course have done a couple of 360’s for weather between those 2 points. The Wg Cdr also mentioned to the Board of Inquiry that he’d been selected to be President of the BOI. They had collected a great deal of information but were suspended as a Board by the convening authority, an AVM, and turned their findings over to the police. Nobody has offered an explanation as to why the Board was not reconvened after the police investigation.
On return from lunch, (they serve a nice pint of 70/- in the local) a bombshell was dropped, wisely by the Defence QC. He stated for the Judge Advocate’s ruling, that a newspaper report indicated that the Procurator Fiscal in Elgin had stated that there was certainly a case to answer for unlawful killing; the court went very quiet; it was an uncomfortable moment. Much to everyones surprise, the Judge Advocate thanked the QC and asked “What’s it got to do with him? (i.e. the Procurator Fiscal); disregard it and completely put it out of your minds, let’s get on”.
That’s really it for today; more tomorrow.
Watch your 6