 Air Marshal Sir John Baird, writing to a relative of a killed serviceman, called the situation a national disgrace.He said fitting the foam system now was "too little, too late".The later Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Glenn Torpy, writing to a relative of one killed, stated that all British servicemen are given all necessary safety equipment for their mission and that "until the loss of XV179, the Hercules aircraft was not judged vulnerable to this kind of attack".