"I'm surprised that so many accomplished pilots have managed to avoid becoming craters as your decision making seems to revolve around jumping to conclusions without data or fact."
...Grant1978 that's a tad unfair, you have come asking a question as a new member, I'm guessing you didn't read the warning at the top of the homepage that said be careful about what you post as it may end up in the wrong hands. There are numerous incidents of members of the press and associated media coming on here 'looking for answers' to a quick question and it appearing in the media within minutes.
As you say 'we' are an educated bunch of professionals who work in a very technical, highly regulated environment with a lot of nuances. Please remember that aviation has been a regulated environment since the 1920's. Next time you look at a flight ticket look at the T&C's and it will refer either to the Warsaw convention of 1929 or the Chicago convention of 1944.
So rightly or wrongly 'we' are quite nervous of strangers asking out-of-the-blue questions and we often struggle to explain the working practices of a very old industry to people from outside of the aviation environment, this is primarily down to the fact that most people who work in aviation only ever talk shop with other aviation professionals as we speak the same language. ...in my case my wife and son both work in aviation, it makes home so much easier!
PM me with an email address and I'll pass it onto a friend in the UK who will be able to forward you a .pdf of a maintenance manual for your interest.
Miles