BoI reports published

[Navaleye]

The MoD website has published a large batch of BoI reports, covering all three services. They make very interesting reading.

Here

[Jackonicko]

Thanks for those. I must say that I found the BoI report into the (XXX Section 26 XXX) of (XXX S26 XXX) especially (S26).

[c-bert]

Xxxxxxxxxxx

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I was very, very drunk.

[Jackonicko]

C-bert,

You bad lad. How drunk? Completely (XXX Section 26 XXX)-faced, or (XXX Section 40 XXX) as a (XXX Section 69 XXX)?

[c-bert]

Hehe. Interesting as those reports undoubtably are, it does make me wonder just how effective the whole FOI thing is. The number of responses I've read that go along the lines of:

Dear XXX,
Thank you for your request blah, blah. We are sorry to inform you we do not keep records of this information. Hope that helps.

XXXXX
2nd XXXXX to the XXXXX

Gripping stuff. The public must be informed.

[Wader2]

c-bert, quite. I asked for an example of a PPI photograph from the V-Force. Given the many miles of photographs taken the answer was sorry, we don't have any. I then told them where to look and they manage to find an old H2S photo possibly from a Lincoln. Still it was a good enough image.

When the FOI thing came in you should have seen the smoke from High Wycombe Towers, visible for miles.

[Brain Potter]

More interesting reading here:

Ministry of Defence | About Defence | Corporate Publications | Air Safety and Aviation Publications | MAAS

These summaries look like abbreviated versions of the accident reports. I remember that there were always huge piles of these booklets in every crewroom and a quick look at the sheer number of accidents in the eighties shows why.

[CirrusF]

quick look at the sheer number of accidents in the eighties shows why

It is indeed interesting that the accident rates were so high in the eighties (though possibly even higher in the seventies?). Would anybody like to debate why the accident rates fell in the nineties and have fallen very considerably this decade?

After a rough perusal of the reports, it would appear that pilot error was a more significant factor in the eighties than it is more recently. Also, the Harrier seemed to be particularly accident prone in the eighties. Of course, without data on number of hours flown across the decades it is not possible to make definite conclusions, but my gut feeling is that pilot error rates are down and aircraft reliability up since the eighties.

[[email protected]]

I suspect that the accident rate changed because we went from years of training for the cold war to actually warfighting where we realised that crashing was just doing the enemiy's job for him. Add in the reduction in aircraft numbers due to defence cuts and the smaller size of the Armed Forces you then may have some reasons for fewer accidents.

[dervish]

I read a few and was wondering why some Board of Inquiry reports are heavily redacted, yet the same information is not redacted in MAAS reports. Is theere a time limit on the BoI redaction? Or is it just an error?

[spaniels ears]

Interesting to note in Hercules XV206 BOI that SIB are repeatedly criticised for obstructing the investigation. At least we're all on the same side.

[Warmtoast]

I read one of the reports that led to a court-martial and subsequent acquittal of the accused.

Personal details are redacted in BOI report, but a quick Google reveals several reports from the press and BBC together with a photo of the aquitted officer and his wife and their comments after his aquittal.

Which only goes to show that if anyone wants to look stupid, the MOD are champions in the stupidity stakes by trying to put the Genie back into the bottle when they redact information already widely reported in the press.

[4Greens]

Differences in accident rates between the seventies and the eighties may be as a result of changes in accident investigation techniques. Modern investigations show 'contributory factors'. These may or may not include errors by pilots or anyone else. The only sure thing known about any accident is that there is always more than one contributory factor (cause).