- it does seem to me to be mainly technical in nature, the ops stuff is concerning, but largely unconnected with the actual incident IMO.
I think the important point there is that the "ops stuff" will become very much a feature of another incident down the line if it is not dealt with now.
The constant thread running through accident reports is that the paperwork was wrong.
Only two things can cause this.
Either:
A Being slack with paperwork makes you crash.
or
B People who are slack with their paperwork are more likely to crash.
It may of course be that all squadrons are as shabby at keeping in line, but if that's the case, why?
I've been reading some more service inquiry reports, and apart from the appalling grammar and spelling errors, (very like the AAIB reports) there is that ever present history of errors leading up to the crash.
The fudging of hours for IR recency or CT hours might have no bearing on this particular tragedy, but what kind of culture is it exposing?
What's it going to take for someone to have the balls to find and discipline the officers who failed to find the shortcuts? I know it will not bring Flt Lt Cunningham back, but it might well keep Flt Lt Bloggs alive next year.
Since DLT can be put in the dock for "allegedly" feeling up a girl on Top of the Pops 40 years ago, surely even a Group Captain can be held responsible for his actions (or lack thereof) as a Squablin Bleeder five years ago.