Chinook pilots to be cleared of gross negligence

After further investigations into the 1994 crash, two Chinooks pilots are expected to be cleared of gross negligence. The findings are to be announced in the Commons this week.

On 2 June 1994, at approximately 6.00pm a Chinook military helicopter crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in one of the most heavily publicised military accidents of the last two decades.

In 1995 an RAF enquiry concluded that the two pilots of the Chinook, Flight-Lieutenants Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook, were guilty of gross negligence for flying too low and fast when the Chinook crashed during a flight from Belfast to Inverness. As a result of the crash such serious injury was suffered by all on board, that all 29 passengers lost their lives. Those killed in the crash included senior police, Army and MI5 intelligence officers.

17 years later and the two pilots are set to be exonerated in an independent report chaired by retired judge Lord Philip. The report is believed to have been passed to Defence Secretary, Liam Fox who will make the announcement in the Commons this week.

The tragic military accident was not only investigated in the 1995 RAF report, but also in 1996, then again in 2000 by the House of Commons Defence Committee and by the House of Lords in 2001. However, despite numerous investigations into the incident, it was not until April 2011that it was disclosed that Defence chiefs had cast doubt over the safety of the Chinooks two years before the military accident. The findings of this report had however, not been disclosed in the previous four inquiries.  

The report details five military accidents over six years having brought the effectiveness of the Chinook fleet into question. The RAF had also set up a Chinook Airworthiness Review Team in 1992 because of concerns over the overall maintenance and management of the fleet.

Whilst the MoD is yet to release a formal statement, an SNP defence spokesperson has commented that, ‘It is time that justice was done, and the defence secretary must finally clear the pilots of any blame.’

In the wake of this announcement, a former RAF engineer Jimmy Jones, has claimed that there may also be links between the 1994 Chinook crash and one other of Britain’s worst military accidents; the loss of a Nimrod in Afghanistan 12 years later.

Mr Jones who worked on the Nimrod fleet wants Mr Fox to provide Lord Philip with a 1998 report of the Nimrod’s airworthiness. He says that this report  should be considered in line with the Chinook fleet report that was prepared two years before the 1994 crash, and accuses the MoD of refusing to release the report  because it would show senior officials ignored warnings about the Nimrod’s airworthiness just as they ignored safety and maintenance concerns in the Chinook fleet.

 Mr Jones has also said that the Nimrod report was, “almost a carbon copy” of the 1992 Chinook report . The indication is that these military accidents were, amongst other things, a result of low staff levels, inadequate training, excessive flying, failure to investigate faults and poor communication.

Whilst the announcement of Mr Fox is eagerly awaited, the public eye is also fixed firmly upon the families of the two pilots whose reputations were smeared and expertise questioned. At last it would seem that these two pilots will finally receive the pardon they deserve.

Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd specialise in all aspects of personal injury and serious injury including CICA claims, public liability, road traffic accidents, military accidents and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claims. To discuss your claim for personal injury, call us now.