The thing about the whole CAA arguments is that its easy for us to sit her and criticize when we dont have to actually make the decision. If you look at something like the Lightning then you have to put emotion to one side and look at the facts as you receive them. The first place you look is the original manufactures, they tell you that in their opinion the aircraft is not safe for civilian operation. Know try going on television to explain why you gave it an authorisation to fly after it has just hit a school full of children, apart from the obvious emotional trauma you would feel you would no doubt soon be arrest and put on trial for manslaughter and could look forward to spending some time in jail.
The aircraft is indeed aloud to fly in South Africa but under the strict guideline that it must not be flown over populated areas, know you try doing that in the UK. I think that if the UK had the same geography as South Africa then the CAA would seriously look at letting the aircraft fly but unfortunatly we dont. No one would like to see a Lightning fly in the UK more than me but if you take the emotion out of the argument then you can see that it is a non starter. I dont wish to start the whole Lightning argument up again its just the easiest aircraft to use as an example. The fact is we are a to densely populated country to take a risk, more so than France, Germany, New Zealand etc. I’m not saying the CAA are always right just we should look more into the argument than just criticising all the time, every country has different circumstances.
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