It is a shame that Ron is still attacked, even after his untimely death at the hands of an inattentive car driver.
He was a man of intelligence and integrity who did not suffer fools.
On the first day of my Accident Investigators Course, he kind of chewed me a new one for not being as interested in his course as he thought I should be
In the end, it was a very interesting course and all through it he emphasised the fact that Investigators need an open mind all the way until the draft report becomes the final report and even after that if new evidence comes to light.
He also mentioned numerous investigations where he would try to physically bar Police from entering an accident site for the purpose of a "possible criminal investigation". He was extremely idealistic and did not ever believe that a criminal case should come from an Air Accident as that would hinder the collection of facts and statments in the future.
The one last thing I remember from his course all those years ago was a statment he made "your job is not to apportion blame to any one individual or cause. Your job is to find, to the best of your ability and the evidence at hand, what the true causes of the accident were, so that it may never happen again". Not quite word for word, but it was a very powerful statment and is still burned in my brain.
That really was what he was about. Preventing the same accident from happening over and over again.
Was he a very confident/borderline arrogant man? You bet, but he knew his
too. He aso had to be confident in the face of intense media scrutiny for most of his working life.
I wonder if he were a bit more friendly and a bit more approachable, he would be seen in an entirely different light.
Whether you like it or not, that report is still the only factual legal document produced.
Did you know that up until the time of his death, and maybe even to this day, he would get hate mail on the anniversary of the accident. Seriously people, don't blame the messenger, he was just doing his job, to the best of his ability, with what he had to go on.
I know other Inspectors in other high profile investigation who are also victimised for the perceived targeting of certain people/groups in their investigations.
It really is a very sad state of affairs.
A very sad day in the history of New Zealand aviation.