I agree Captain. Whatever the failings in communication, ATC, vehicle recognition etc etc, bad though those seem to have been, the orange panels were a 'last-ditch', 'when all else fails', 'simple enough for a trained chimp to understand' sign that those vehicles were friendly.

At least one pilot saw them. The system 'worked' in that respect. But the fact that he assumed them to be 'orange rockets' leads one to the inescapable conclusion that the aircrew were not told about the panels. I find this bizarre in the extreme.