Major rejects pilot error in Chinook crash

Former British prime minister Mr John Major said today he believes a helicopter crash that killed top counter-terrorism experts…

Former British prime minister Mr John Major said today he believes a helicopter crash that killed top counter-terrorism experts 10 years ago was not the fault of RAF Chinook pilots.

It is time to set aside the original verdict and bring comfort to the memory to the pilots and remove the burden that has lain too long upon their reputations and their families' peace of mind.
Former British prime minister Mr John Major

The helicopter was flying from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to a security conference and passengers included a senior MI5 officer and leading Special Branch officers.

Mr Major today wrote in the Timesnewspaper that the negligence verdict recorded on the accident over the Mull of Kintyre, in which all 29 passengers and crew died, should now be set aside.

Following the accident, an RAF board of inquiry concluded that the pilots, Flight Lieutenants Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook, were guilty of "gross negligence" It ruled that the helicopter was flying too fast and too low when the pilots attempted to take emergency action to avoid a steep hillside.

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But Mr Major, who was Prime Minister at the time of the crash in June 1994, said: "No evidence existed that either pilot - both of whom died in the crash - was negligent."

Mr Major today joined former defence secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind in calling for the verdict to be quashed.  "It is time to set aside the original verdict and bring comfort to the memory to the pilots and remove the burden that has lain too long upon their reputations and their families' peace of mind," he said.

Campaigners have since fought to clear their names, alleging there was a technical problem.

The RAF judgment has been the only official verdict into the accident, although a number of inquiries  - including reviews by the Commons Defence Committee and a House of Lords special select committee - have disagreed with the ruling.

PA