'No risks' on fatal jet crash mission

Wreckage was found on Ben Macdui in the Cairngorms

A training mission which resulted in two US fighter pilots crashing into a Scottish mountain was not considered to include any "significant risks", a court martial has heard.

The two men would have been aware of high ground and poor weather conditions before they set off on a low-flying exercise, Craig Penrice, one of the world's leading test pilots, told the hearing.

Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Hyvonen, 40 and Captain Kirk Jones, 27, who were based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, died after their jets crashed into Ben Macdui in the Cairngorms on 26 March, 2001, during a snowstorm.

Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Williams, 47, of RAF Leuchars, Fife, is charged with causing their deaths by allegedly instructing the two pilots to fly 2,500 ft below the safety limit.

Lt Col Hyvonen was the lead pilot

Williams denies the charge and also an alternative one of professional negligence.

On the 13th day of the court martial Mr Penrice, who had been called as an expert witness, examined the preparations the pilots would have made before flying from their base.

The US Air Force pilots were on a mission including route navigation and intercepts.

Based on risk assessments, they fell into the "Green" category which would give no rise for concern.

Mr Penrice told the hearing in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, that he did not believe the weather would have been any worse than what the pilots had contemplated when they planned their mission that day.

No significant risk

Asked why he thought that, Mr Penrice replied: "He hasn't made any effort to deviate from his planned track."

From examining the preparations which the pilots had made for their low flying exercise, Mr Penrice concluded: "The operations from Lakenheath that day involved no significant risk."

Mr Penrice, who is currently test flying the Eurofighter, the next generation of RAF combat aircraft, had told the hearing on Tuesday it would have been "perilous" for the pilots to have aborted the mission if they encountered deteriorating conditions.

He said that to have aborted from a known flight path at low level would have been dangerous.