Mr. Ken Spratt:

I should say night visioning information systems are not widely used in civil search and rescue. It is not something we sought to procure at the time. Therefore, the service that was being provided to us is the service we sought to procure at the time. Yes, technologies have moved on and yes, it is something we would like to be a part of our search and rescue service. Something that is really important is that the Air Accident Investigation Unit report runs to 350 pages, excluding appendices. It is wide-ranging in scope, with findings and safety recommendations that cover all aspects of search and rescue aviation, both nationally and internationally. It set out factual information on the flight. It set out analysis of that information. It forms conclusions and findings, including probable cause and contributory causes. Subsequent to the conclusions, there are a number of safety recommendations. It is really important for me to highlight that all the recommendations for us, that is, for the Minister and the Department, have been acted on. The recommendations for the Department are all being acted on, as I said. There is no reference or recommendation in the Air Accident Investigation Unit report to night visioning technology or night visioning information services. With respect, given the circumstances and given the sensitivity of what happened, it just would not be appropriate for me to speculate on what is essentially a hypothetical scenario so I do not propose to comment on it.