John Purdey wrote:
It has to be one thing or the other; either they knew where they were or they did not know
Indeed, but that is only one small and frankly irrelevant part of the debate. An equally important question is whether or not the aircraft was under control at the time of the accident. During the House of Lords Select Committee Hearings, Tony Cable, who investigated the crash for the AAIB, was asked:
"So you were not able to exclude the possibility of a control jam, and do I understand that you were not able to exclude the possibility of some engine malfunction, of which you found no trace?"
(Mr Cable) No; that is correct. As I said, it is not possible to prove serviceability effectively.
Let me just emphasise the point again:
AAIB: "....it is not possible to prove serviceability effectively"
That's pretty conclusive isn't it Mr Purdey?