SASless:
Someone...somewhere...knowing the answer...having access to documentation...someone....with a conscience or some backbone....should have come forth by now....one would think anyway.
Oh, they've come forward all right. Evidence has been submitted to Lord Philip, specifically tasked with looking again at the Mull BoI and the RO's verdict. He found the latter to be wanting and as a result the finding of Gross Negligence by the pilots was set aside.
Nothing further has happened, no further investigation by the MAA, the RAF, the RAF Provost Marshal, the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Police, Parliament, the Government, not even it would appear National Geographic itself. All, it would seem know which side their bread is buttered and don't make waves.
The real issue is not even how a Grossly Unairworthy aircraft received an RTS, but why it was unairworthy in the first place. That is the real scandal, that Airworthiness Provision had already been dealt a fatal blow by the issuing of illegal orders by VSO's to ignore and suborn the Regulations. Once started out on that road there is no going back to your starting point unless and until you completely reform the Regulatory Authority and make it independent of those who might suborn it again, ie the MOD. Haddon Cave baulked at that and thus gave birth to the runt that is the MAA.
That's how it works this side of the pond, anyway. 2*'s and above and you are fireproof. Lesser mortals can and are fed to the wolves in their place. If that were it, so be it. If you can't take a joke etc etc...The problem is that aviation doesn't have a sense of humour and given a chance will always bite you. Given an MAA that is as compromised as the system it inherited, ie an Airworthiness System that cannot provide airworthiness, there is plenty of meat for it to feed on, I'm afraid