Jay Foe

Yet another young whipper snapper that unfortunately has never had the honour of meeting you. However I've heard many stories about you from the grown ups at this outpost of the Air Force.

All the Best mate

PS I hope you're making plans to come to the 5's this year where If you get to buy a drink it will be a travesty

mspaddler

Spot & Sue

It must sbe gratifying, in these dire times, to see the outpouring of support from your old friends and those new friends you may never meet. Let us hope this farce is over in the next day or so.....

Brian Smith

Umtali

Spot & Sue,

Best wishes as you start this week, hope it is the last with the result we all want. As you can see you have thousands on your side, thinking of you each day. Love to Barbara, John and the rest of your support team and thank you to those who are keeping us on the web updated.

Caroline, Angela & the rest in Crowle, Worcs.

Argosy

Dear Spot,
As what we hope will be the last week of this disgraceful CM starts, we send you our very best wishes for a quick and just outcome.
From over the water we can see from this forum that you have a great family, you are blessed with great friends; a great support & legal team has formed to defend you. Many anonymous supporters around the world have written to you with encouragement.
We hope and believe that with this loyal team justice will triumph and you can return to a normal life with your family and friends.
You will be very much in our thoughts all this week.

DICK DOLEMAN

Hi Folks,

Spot feels a little down after today as we thought it might have been Endex. The Rollercoaster continues.

SUMMARY FOR 10th February 2003:

The Judge Advocate considered both the submission of ‘no case to answer’ put forward by the Defence and the response by the Prosecutor.

The submission by Mike Jones QC was very elegantly and expertly put and was a test of the legal points of negligence and causation. The JA decided that the CM should continue and the Board was called back in.

The Defence then called their first witness, this is a gentleman who was hill walking with a friend in the general area at the time. He was looking north and saw two twin finned aircraft which were tracking east to west before he saw them bank to the right towards Ben McDhui. They were above him (he was in a valley bottom) but were flying beneath cloud. He saw them for about five seconds. He initially identified them as F14s but afterwards realised that they were F15s.

The witness is now under cross examination.

More tomorrow.

Dick Doleman

Skippy P

Spot and Sue

Not sure where our last message got to but we want to let you know that these proceedings are being watched world-wide. ( Yours truly is now retired in France- Thank goodness!)

Carol and I cannot believe what we have been reading. We can only say that at times like this friends really count, and as we know, you cannot have a better friend than Dick. I'm sure that with his help (plus Mike and Brian etc) you have not only right, but might on your side.

Keep your chin up and hopefully this debarcle will soon be over.

Skip

styas

Dear Spot,

I do not know if you remember me from Shetland Radar all those years ago, but I want you to know that all at ScATCC Civil and Military are with you in this fight with the Service. How this has been allowed to get this far - god alone knows!
I hope you have been heartened by the fantastic support that you are receiving through this site, and the knowledge that all your Controller colleagues within the Service, NATS, and worldwide are with you in this troubling time for you.
We all hope that for once a CM will see true justice done, and you found not guilty!

Simon

Cliff Walker

Spot & Sue
Our thoughts are with you both and we are certain that common sense will prevail. I am sorely disappointed that your beloved mentors have actually let this go so far.
When you shortly get the dismissal that you so obviously deserve, please come and have some fresh air and some Adnams on the house.

Keep the faith and God speed

Cliff & Sheila Walker

Tim Hewlett

Dear Spot and Sue,

Just to reiterate my support for you both and add my thanks to Dick for keeping us all updated. I really look forward to seeing you both again; to laughing, drinking beer and playing dreadful golf when this is a distant albeit painful memory. Just let me know when the celebration thrash is planned...

Tim H

RubiC Cube

I quote from RAF course notes on stress management:

"1. An officer has a huge responsibility when commanding people and the commissioning scroll states that you must,

“use your best endeavours to keep them in good order.”

2. This quote sums up the moral issue – it is about the basic human concern for the well-being of the individual. Exercise careful judgement to ensure that you perform all the duties of a commander properly – attending to task, team and individual needs appropriately – it’s not easy."

Did Spot's superiors use their best endeavours to keep him in good order and have concern for his well being?

A quote from People Management, 10 July 1997

‘John Walker, a Northumberland County Council social worker who suffered 2 nervous breakdowns, received a £175 000 settlement last year. This case has made it plain that workplace stress is a HASW issue. The judge ruled that there was no difference in principle between physical health and psychological well-being. Employers who do nothing about the problem are therefore failing in their duties under the HASW Act 1974.’

I'm not suggesting that Spot had a nervous breakdown, but he was clearly suffering from stress so soon after his father's death. Did his superiors do anything about Spot's problem?

Steve Davies

I am the UK correspondent for an international aviation magazine and am currently writing an article on these unfortunate events. I must say that I am saddened by the lack of national press coverage that this case is receiving, especially given that there are certainly signals that this CM closely resembles a witch hunt.

I am a licensed helicopter pilot, so I do have some knowledge of the responsibilities a pilot must accept when flying under different types of ATC service. However, I would like to ask if any Mil ATCO would be prepared to meet with me or speak with me on the telephone in order to allow me to make absolutely sure that I know what I am talking about. I am particularly keen to understand specific mil regulations concerning RIS.

It is likely that the CM will have ended by the time my article goes to print, so I don’t believe that anyone who might want to help should worry that their actions might be counter-productive in a ‘trial by media’ sense! I take myself seriously and would hasten to add that I write for a magazine whose readers are discerning and far from interested in sensationalistic journalism.

I am doing my due diligence and am talking to official spokespeople from both the RAF and USAF as well – I intend to produce a balanced feature that tells the story how it is and leaves the reader to draw his/her own conclusions.

If you would be prepared to help then please e-mail me: [email protected]

DICK DOLEMAN

Herewith the summary for today. Thanks to Pprune Radar for making a personal appearance in sunny Helensburgh. Ted Tilly was in attendance representing GATCO.



SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY 11 FEB 03

This was, all in all, a pretty dramatic day.

The morning started with the Prosecution completing cross-examination of the first eye witness without eliciting any significant contradiction from his original examination by Defence.

The second eye witness (a retired teacher and very experienced hill walker) was most convincing. He knew exactly where he was when he saw two aircraft approaching him and his companion from the south. They were standing at a spot height of 756m (approx 2300ft). He could see two aircraft in very close formation and that they were twin tailed. He mentioned to his companion that the aircraft were not Tornados as he was very familiar with them in his hill walking experience.

The aircraft started to bank before reaching him and flew belly towards him at an estimated range of 40 yards!! The aircraft were flying beneath cloud and were last seen banking steeply flying in a westerly direction close to the time the aircraft were last seen on radar.

In cross examination the eye witness remained adamant on his assessment of his position and height and that the aircraft were twin tailed and definitely not Tornados.

The third witness was part of the walking group of Witness 1. He verified the information of Witness 1, that the aircraft were seen to the north of him and travelling east to west in close formation.

The fourth eye witness was lady walking with the second eye witness. She was not an experienced map reader but saw the aircraft and knew they were not Tornados because Tornados regularly flew in the area where she lived and she noticed these aircraft had a double tail. Her companion also stated that the aircraft were not Tornados at the very time of sighting them. On cross examination she was adamant that the aircraft had a double tail and were not Tornados. They passed 100 ft above her head banking towards a gap in the hills. They were flying beneath cloud.

An expert witness, Craig Penrice (test pilot) was then called. He is currently working for BAe Systems, Warton. He has a total of 4,200 hrs including Lightning (750 hrs), Hawk (1800 hrs), F15 (550 hrs), Tornado + Eurofighter. He has very extensive low level experience including Farnborough Display Pilot in Eurofighter down to 500 ft a.g.l. He has been a Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI), Qualified Weapons Instructor (QWI), Instrument Rating Examiner (IRE) and USAF Instructor Pilot. He is also a graduate of the US Navy Test Pilot School. Craig has flown all variants of the F15 interceptor and was a qualified 4-ship leader on this aircraft.

Mike Jones QC started his examination by asking Craig for his views on the pre-flight mission planning and briefing of Bite 21. Various items of documentary evidence were already in court as exhibits.

He stated that the weather information available to the pilots would assist the crews in validating that the mission was viable and that they would have a complete weather picture before setting off. From the information LFA 14 looked good to excellent visibility, scattered cloud base greater that 2500 ft and the possibility of cloud on the hills in places with the possibility of scattered snow showers.

He stated that on such a mission, pilots would not simply climb to their Abort Altitude if encountering cloud as they would want to achieve their mission objectives. In this case, a low level navigation exercise and low level intercept training. He also stated that pilots viewed low level abort as more perilous than other options available which would probably have been enunciated in the brief. Such other options might include:

1. Circumvent bad weather.
2. Return to an area of known good weather.
3. Conduct their exercise in an area other that originally planned.

Craig was still being examined by Mike Jones when the court closed for the day.

IMPORTANT REVELATIONS Mike Jones QC for the defence elicited that none of the eyewitnesses had ever been interviewed by the RAF, USAF or any aircraft accident investigator. They had all made statements to the Grampian Police. All authorities were aware of the existence of such statements. We know that Major Chamberlain saw at least one of these statements but did not follow it up in his role as USAF aircraft investigator.

We also know that the RAF Board of Inquiry also knew of the existence of the statements and chose not to pursue the evidence through interview.

Furthermore, we know that the USAF accident investigation was still not complete after two years or its findings were left open.

We can draw over our own conclusions as to why all these authorities chose this course of action. However, I am sure readers of this forum will draw their own conclusions and make the appropriate comments. Personally, I smell some very large rodents!!!

That’s it for today.


Dick Doleman, Brian Young

radish

From a serving military navigator and his ex GD/ATC partner (she remembers you from ARTS):

Wishing you the all the best, no more than that which natural and moral justice dictates,
from me 'n' C.S.


To all controllers, yours is still the branch outside my own with which I identify the most, you still hold our trust and confidence (happy hour banter aside!). Long may it remain so.

(P.S. Anybody else think the Michael Douglas / Catherine Zeta Jones court case a bit sickening given the timing?)

Shagster

Dear Spot
The sole reason that I have joined this forum is to offer you and your wife my support. I was an assistant at Larrbruch in '82 when you served there as a Flg Off. During my 13 years of "coalface controlling" I have rarely met an individual who has commanded such respect AND warmth of feeling from his peers. You may even be unique!!
This will go your way coz I've never prayed harder.....
Best wishes
Dave J

Steve Davies

Dick,

You say that the USAF AIB is not complete, how so? The USAFE line is that it was completed some time back but is being witheld at the request of the RAF....

mrtall35

Spot and Sue,

I am yet another current controller who is with you in spirit even though we have never met. Let's hope this farce does not go on much longer.

All I can say is that the support you are getting from crewrooms everwhere is 100%.

One question I have is how many more defence witness's are there left to be called?

All the best

MR TALL

Blackbird Man

Spot and Sue,

All the best and I hope you get the result you rightly deserve, so you can finally put this behind you.

You were a great help to me in Germany when I had the fastest Belmont in history. I will never forget that, if there is ever anything I can do just ask.

Take care and good luck.

Mickydrip

Not wishing to break anybody's train of thought in this show trial, but I have been asked by one of the support group in situ at Helensburgh to make reference to the pairing of Dick Doleman and Al Turner in the B&B.

There is, it seems, a striking resemblance to "The Odd Couple" - 1960's film starring Walther Matthau and Jack Lemmon. Did Walther Mattheau really shave his legs too??

Good luck everybody, wish I was still up there.

PPRuNe Radar

It was certainly an interesting day, an alien world of stopping and starting and lengthy meanderings to reach conclusions. In ATC we are all used to dynamic and quick events with instantaneous results. The legal system really is at the opposite end of the spectrum, however it was fascinating to see the system in action. And of course the due process as prescribed in Law is sancrosant.

Many thanks to Dick for his continuing excellence in bringing everyone the news from the Court ... almost live

Also thanks to Al and Dick for lunch. And Brian Young for his company and briefings on the case. Much appreciated guys.

It was a pleasure to meet Spot and his lovely wife Sue, it brought back to me graphically that we are dealing with real people here, people who are honest and decent and deserve justice. Although both were extremely gracious in thanking PPRuNe for all that it has done for them, we really haven't done an awful lot, especially compared to the stalwarts in the defence support team. There is still work to done, but I am confident that Spot is in the best possible hands.

That said, we will continue as a site (and I am sure that you all as individual readers will do so also) to wish Spot the best of luck in obtaining the only proper outcome to this case. Our continued support is assured.

Good luck to everyone on the defence.

Guarding The Byte

Spot,

Although we have not served together, you showed me great friendship and support when I was one of your students on the ARTS Course in the early 90s.

Having spent the evening reading through all of the messages of support posted on Pprune, I felt compelled to return the compliment.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family throughout this traumatic time. I am full of admiration of your courage and would be delighted to buy you a beer when this nightmare comes, as it surely will, to an end.

Best regards,

Guarding The Byte