A Tory MP has criticised the decision of the Commons Defence Select Committee not to launch a full inquiry into the Chinook helicopter crash in 1994, in which 25 RUC and intelligence personnel and four members of the RAF were killed.
Mr Crispin Blunt said yesterday the remit of the inquiry was "grey" and that a fresh examination of the evidence should ask why the RAF's board of inquiry investigation came to the conclusion the pilots were negligent. After a two-hour meeting of the cross-party committee, the members said they had decided to call the Armed Forces Minister, Mr John Reid, to give evidence "on the lessons to be learned" from the crash. The decision rules out an investigation of the Fadec computer engine control system on the Chinook which fresh evidence has blamed for the crash.
The new inquiry will focus on several issues arising from the crash, rather than its causes, including the reliability of the Chinook fleet; the reasons for the change of policy on findings of negligence; the use of self-authorising status for pilots; the policy on transport of key personnel. A recent investigation by Channel 4 into the events leading up to the crash and the use of Fadec has raised serious doubts about the findings of the RAF inquiry, which Mr Blunt claimed was "riddled with doubt" and had "changed halfway up the chain." The British government has backed the original conclusion that the Chinook crashed in thick fog because the pilots did not exercise skill, care or judgment by continuing to fly towards high ground in bad weather. Several former members of the RAF have come forward in recent months claiming the RAF and many of its pilots were unhappy with Fadec. And a lawyer acting for the family of one of the pilots has said an internal memo described Fadec as "unsuitable for its purpose".
However, Mr Blunt, who was a special adviser to the former Defence Secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, at the time of the crash, dismissed the controversy surrounding the use of Fadec and said he hoped the new inquiry would allow him to ask questions about the RAF investigation into the crash. Early findings had not pointed to negligence on the part of the pilots, but when the investigation came under the control of an air vice-marshal, the verdict changed, Mr Blunt said.
Mr Blunt said he agreed with the conclusion of the fatal accident inquiry into the crash, which said "on the balance of probabilities" the pilots were not negligent. In the past he has said the pilots were the "victims of injustice", but pointing to the three investigations into the crash carried out so far, Mr Blunt insisted another "lengthy" inquiry was not needed.