Criminal liabilty of the ground engineer
I am SLF and a (now retired) legal academic with some publications in the criminal aspects of safety in aviation -- an interest I still feed by lurking on PPRuNe and being grateful for the hospitality of the professionals it serves.
I beg patience, seek clarity, and apologise if I have mis-understood something.
Is it correct to state that, had the valve on the flight deck been set in the correct position for flight, then the tragedy would not have happened in the normal course of events (ie, in the absence of other unrelated causes)?
Is it correct to state that the routine pre-takeoff check list on that a/c includes ensuring that the valve is set in the correct position for flight?
Would it then be correct to conclude that the position in which the valve had been left by the maintenance engineer, who was convicted, would have been irrelevant if the flight crew had correctly and conscientiously carried out the necessary routine checks and acted on what they found -- ie, either set it appropriately for flight, or confirmed that it was already appropriately set?
Would it be correct to say that in principle this analysis could be extended to any other safety-critical switch or valve or lever etc etc forming an item in the routine and prescribed pre-flight checks?