Chug - I don't think we'll have to wait too long for an SI report that will be a real acid test of the MAA's integrity and will provide plenty for the airworthiness campaign to get its teeth into (I speak of course of Tornado CWS). But I really feel that the flaws in the Mk10 seat design could not reasonably have been anticipated or spotted by MoD / DE&S - which is all the more evident since the seat was in service in halcyon pre-cuts days. No system is ever 100% safe or foolproof, which is why operators need training, experience and procedures to mitigate known and, to the extent practicable, unknown weaknesses in their kit. Two technical weaknesses snuck through the system at no obvious fault of DE&S, and erosion of the accepted operator safeguards allowed them to line up. Desperately unlucky, and far more attributable to the breakneck pace at which cockpit activity was conducted than any VSO meddling with airworthiness funding long after the Mk10 was in service.
I fully support your campaign and look forward to you taking MoD apart over Tornado CWS!