Which investigation is being delayed? The AAIB will report when ready(serious ones seem to take 12-18 months at best) after submitting a pre-report to the CPS anyway.
The police obviously would like to double check statements so that if it goes to court there is no conflict with what Andy has told the AAIB and what he has told them. As he seems to have only been interviewed once I would expect that he is likely to be interviewed again once they have the AAIB report or even the statements.
Does anyone know who else the police have interviewed, I am presuming it won't just be Andy but the show organisers, maintenance group, owners at least.
Unfortunately, we do not have other aircraft crash inspectors/experts only the AAIB which is great until something like this happens and then the Police have to rely on the AAIB (resulting in a conflict of interest) who can only give partial info and no-one else has access to the aircraft. This hinders any investigation work.
I know the AAIB was set up to review aviation safety and make recommendations for improvements (like the HSE) which is great but at the end of the day the pilots version of events, the maintenance groups version of events etc is something that could easily be provided to the police without any 'blame' being apportioned. This would give the police maybe a little bit more information and they could then move forward with their investigation quicker. Instead of the AAIB providing a copy to the interviewee which they can provide to a 3rd party if they so wish. The AAIB could easily ask the interviewee to sign a copy to confirm they are happy that the summary of events is accurate and this would be the part of the factual information provided to the police if it is requested They obviously can take legal advice if they so wish before signing but must sign it. The full transcript of the interview is still something that would need to be requested via court order.