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UK Channel 4 news claims documents reveal Chinook HC2 was deemed unsafe before 1994 Mull of Kintyre crash
By Peter Donaldson, Technology Editor
Documents released to the UK’s Channel 4 news show that the Chinook HC Mk2 was deemed unsafe by the Rotary Wing Test Squadron (RWTS) at Boscombe Down shortly before the Mull of Kintyre crash on 2 June 1994 killing 25 intelligence and police officers and all four crew. The British Government has just concluded an inquiry that upheld the original verdict that the pilots alone were responsible for the crash.
Channel 4 News has released extracts from the RWTS document, which was dated 2 June 1994, the day of the accident. The extract is from an indistinct photocopy, but this is what it appears to say:
“5. While RWTS appreciate the effect that any delay in the programme will have on current theatres of operation and the associated political pressures imposed, we consider that Boscombe Down is failing in its primary role of providing the front line with equipment which can not only efficiently carry out the task, but to do this safely!
“6. RWTS has carefully monitored the progress of this trial and has put tremendous effort into ensuring that it progresses safely to provide timely CA [Certificate of Airworthiness] Release recommendations. These recommendations with respect to FADEC [Full Authority Digital Engine Control] have, to date, been ignored. Until RWTS is provided with a clear, unequivocal and realistic explanation of the faults described at references B through H, with corrective action, further Chinook HC2 flying shall not be authorized. A statement of “No Fault Found” will no longer satisfy this requirement.
“7. As a trials organisation, A&AEE [the then Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment] has always been keenly aware of the risks associated with operating the Chinook HC2 and has tailored sortie profiles accordingly. Crews of the RAF have no such luxury and are likely at higher risk than A&AEE crews. As such, RWTS deem it imperative that, in the strongest possible terms, the RAF should be provided with a recommendation to cease Chinook HC2 operations until the conditions established in paragraph 6 are satisfied.”
The signature on the document has been blacked out.
While it is possible that the pilots, Flts Richard Cook and Jonathan Tapper, flew their aircraft into rising ground in poor visibility entirely through their own negligence and unconnected with any fault in the aircraft’s engine control system, the fact that RWTS was as concerned about the safety of the aircraft as they clearly were casts serious doubt over the conclusion that the pilots were entirely to blame. They should be given the benefit of that doubt. For more information visit Channel 4 News.
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