Chinook hearing begins
A new inquiry into the crash of a Chinook helicopter on the Mull of Kintyre in June 1994 is due to begin this week in the House...
The hearing follows a campaign by Computer Weekly and Channel Four News for a review of a decision by two RAF air marshals to find the pilots of Chinook ZD576 guilty of negligence.
Four crew and 25 senior police and intelligence officers died when Chinook ZD576 crashed. An RAF board of inquiry produced an inconclusive report on the cause of the crash, and did not rule out problems with the helicopter's computerised Fadec fuel control system as a contributing factor.
But air vice marshal John Day and air chief marshal William Wratten disagreed with the board's report and found the pilots negligent.
Now, for the first time, Wratten and Day, who is now commander in chief, Strike Command, will have a chance to justify their criticism of the pilots of ZD576 in formal Parliamentary proceedings.
They are due to appear this week before a committee of peers whose remit is to consider the justification for the finding of negligence.
The hearings will also allow peers to cross-examine the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, part of the Department for Transport, over its technical report on the crash.
