Sometimes in life you just have to say I can't be bothered! It was still one of those moments, right up until, rightly or wrongly, I read the first paragraph. 'I'm sorry your Commanding Officer (CO) didn't invite you' what an awful condescending thing to say.
You seem unaware just how busy aviation CO's are? Generally they are so busy they don't even get the chance to maintain their own currency - so bad was Lynx serviceability they generally opted for more reliable, less time consuming airframes. As for where I sat in that pecking order, the CO relied on people like me to advise them on all matters flying. According to your premise I didn't do a very good job.
As for BoI's/SI's they are only as good as the convening order, terms of reference, allows them to be.
I have said my bit and will apologise as I seem to have steered this thread away from its purpose so getting back to that - I still firmly believe we should buy the 18 straight of the shelf - completely cut out the middle man and get the contract fundamentally right first time.