Chinook Pilots Verdict To Stand

There's bad news today for relatives of two RAF pilots, as an earlier verdict of 'gross negligence' on the two dead servicemen looks set to remain in place.

Defence Secretary John Hutton has decided that no new evidence has been uncovered after a fresh review of the contentious inquiry into the crash of a Chinook helicopter (similar, pictured) - which was carrying the elite of Northern Ireland's security personnel - and hit a hillside while flying from RAF Aldergrove, near Belfast, to Fort George, near Inverness.

The personnel aboard were on their way to attend a high-level security conference on terrorist intentions during a then ongoing deadly terror campaign.

It was the one single event that caused the heaviest loss among Northern Ireland's intelligence community in that it killed the four Special Forces crew and 25 senior members of Northern Ireland's anti-terror command - military and RUC officers included.

The cause of the crash on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994 was re-examined last year by former NIO Minister and later Defence Secretary, Des Browne, after campaigners uncovered evidence which they said could posthumously clear the pilots.

They disagreed with the formal RAF inquiry which accused Flt Lts Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook of 'gross negligence'.

This was at odds with the first investigation, after the helicopter crash happened, in thick fog en route from Northern Ireland to Inverness, when pilots Tapper and Cook were cleared of blame.

That decision was then overturned after the formal fatal accident inquiry by these two senior RAF officers, who both claimed the pilots had been flying too fast and too low in the thick fog.

Now, the BBC is reporting that these findings by the two RAF air marshals will stand, despite campaigners persuading Des Browne to review the case a year ago, handing over a dossier which they claimed would clear the pilots, and then urging Mr Hutton to take up the case.

Campaigners still maintain there were serious flaws in the Chinook helicopter and that were more likely to have been responsible for the crash, despite the now expected negative outcome of the Hutton-sponsored investigation.

See: Chinook Crash Case To Be Re-examined

(BMcC)