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This news report in todays Daily Telegraph (UK) .... I do think the boys mum is being a wee bit melodramatic ...


Nicholas Rice, the 15-year-old cadet killed at the controls of an RAF training plane.

By Mark Hughes5:49PM GMT 21 Feb 2012

Nicholas, 15, died when his plane, piloted by an RAF reservist who suffered from a severe medical condition, collided with a glider over Abingdon, Oxfordshire in 2009.
Flight Lieutenant Mike Blee, 62, had a severe spinal condition which meant that the bones in his back were fused together. The inquest heard that the slightest jolt could break his spine.
The jury ruled that Flt Lt Blee was killed “in the air” following the collision, meaning that Nicholas spent the final 24 seconds of his life trying to free himself from the aircraft as it plummeted to the ground.
During the inquest Nicholas’s mother Julie said she would not have allowed her son to fly with Flt Lt Blee had she known of his medical condition, the full extent of which was not known to the RAF.
The jury said that the RAF has “mismanaged” Flt Lt Blee’s disability.

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Mrs Rice said the fact that the RAF was not aware of the full extent of Flt Lt Blee’s condition was “shameful”.
She said: “The inquest has been the culmination of the worst period of my life.
“In allowing my child to participate in an air experience I trusted that the RAF knew what they were doing and they would take care of him.
"It was devastating to discover they had utterly failed him.”
Mrs Rice said that the tragedy had occurred because Flt. Lt. Blee's Ankylosing Sponylitis had meant that he was killed in the initial collision, leaving her son alone in the doomed plane.
"This left my son struggling in vain to escape the plane that in fact was capable of flying back to base,” she added.
Mrs Rice said that Flt. Lt. Blee's condition had been noted by the RAF in 1976 when he was blocked from doing parachute drills because of his fragile spine.
"That this foreseeable risk was ignored by the RAF for 30 years is shameful."
The jury heard that Flt. Lt. Blee's condition had been spotted by medics and his fellow airmen, but he was never grounded and his ability to fly never fully questioned.
Any of Flt. Lt. Blee's superiors who expressed concerns were placated by the fact he had a full medical certificate permitting him to fly written by Dr Douglas Wyper. Dr Wyper told the inquest he had a drink problem.
He had also ticked boxes to say that Flt. Lt. Blee's spine was "normal", despite the fact that he was suffering from Ankylosing Spondylitis, and had a visibly hunched back.
Not all of the details as to Flt. Lt. Blee's illness had been included in his flight records, meaning some of his superiors were unaware of its severity.
The jury said that there had been systematic failures due to the mismanagement of Flt. Lt Blee's condition and a failure to teach Nicholas how to leave the plane in an emergency.
Flt. Lt. Blee's family paid tribute to him via a statement read by lawyer Tim Scorer.
"Mike was a loving husband, father, son and brother and continues to be sorely missed," he said.
"He lived a full and active life and positively contributed to the lives of many.
"He was highly respected by his colleagues and fondly remembered by all who knew him."

Thanks for posting this.

I do find the whole article a wee bit suspicious though. Having family and friends in various military services in the UK, I find it very hard to believe some of the points in the article. They would have happily MD'd (Medically Discharged) him from service if "he was blocked from doing parachute drills because of his fragile spine."

I really hope that this report is inaccurate, wouldn't be good press for the RAF if they were allowing pilots that cannot perform a basic parachute drill to fly.

Hey, Bilko:

I think they are just trying to give AS a bad name!

But, seriously, I would be upset if they pulled my driver's license but had enough close calls due to my AS that I am extra-careful on the road (sometimes to the chagrin of guys behind me).

HEALTH,
John

This guy would have been retired and a reservist. But many years ago Prof Ebringer told me he did have a RAF pilot referred to him by the military for a second opinion, I think, who he told to follow the low starch diet. This enabled him to carry on flying, possibly without a definitive diagnosis being made.

I'm careful driving to, always looking in the mirror for tailgaters. If they get too close I slow up and get them thinking. But I still carry passengers -

Edit, misread the article, comment not relevant.
J.R.