So reliable Military Air Accident Investigation is assured not by the MAAIB, but by the AAIB? In that case make the obvious change and merge the two! I know that I am making waves here, and having served myself I know the irritation caused by those outside making grandiose suggestions of what to do or not to do, but this is all about the needless waste of blood and treasure.
Whether the RAF puts its hands up to the blatant misdeeds done in its name that I described above I very much doubt, but it is out there now and in the public domain. That is why the solution to this mess cannot be the usual MOD fudge and has to not only work but be seen to work. The key to all this is independence, real guaranteed independence, just as it is with the CAA and the AAIB. The RAF in particular, as the major military air operator, has to accept that or remain forever under suspicion of exerting undue pressure on its Airworthiness and Investigating personnel. The obvious solution is for those personnel to be seconded to a civilian led regime outwith the MOD. The MAAIB set up that you describe seems perfect for that, wedded with its civilian opposite number and working with it. All it needs is for it to be the military arm of the AAIB and headed by a civilian DG, rather than of the MOD with a Service DG. I emphasise that none of this is about the people concerned. It is about the system, which must be "Mull proof"!
Ditto all the above re the MAA and CAA of course.
Last edited by Chugalug2; 3rd November 2013 at 17:57.