Members of the House of Commons Defence Committee were briefed yesterday on the RAF Chinook helicopter crash in the Mull of Kintyre amid claims that vital information might have been withheld from inquiries. The cross-party committee heard why Labour defence ministers backed the original finding of gross negligence by the two pilots.
The Armed Forces Minister, Mr John Reid, said he and the Defence Secretary, Mr George Robertson, had examined the findings of the civilian and military aircraft accident investigators. "We have satisfied ourselves that the verdict of the board of inquiry, which was supported by the previous administration, was fully justified," he said.
Some 25 security officials and four RAF crew died in the 1994 disaster. Ministers backed the original finding that the pilots did not exercise skill, care or judgement by continuing to fly towards high ground below a safe altitude and in bad weather.
However, a lawyer acting for the family of one of the pilots claimed an RAF memo about problems with the Fadec electronics system which controls the operation of the engines was not released for the inquiry. Mr Peter Watson claimed the memo was circulated the day after the crash.
"It suggested the software was unsuitable for its purpose and was unverifiable. In short, it was unreliable and didn't work," he said. "This memo was not released to us or anyone else inquiring into the crash."
Dr Reid stressed that the claims about the Fadec were both "misleading and not relevant". He said concerns about the system were known to the civilian and military investigators at the time of the accident and were discounted from having any role in the cause of the accident.