Sir Malcolm defends Chinook campaign

Twenty-nine people died in the crash

Former Defence Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind has defended those campaigning to clear the names of the RAF pilots killed in the Mull of Kintyre Chinook helicopter crash.

Twenty-nine people died, including senior figures in Northern Ireland intelligence, in 1994 when the Chinook crashed on a flight from Belfast.

Sir Malcolm was responding to an article by retired Air Chief Marshal Sir William Wratten who claims the campaigners' case is based on "highly selective" and "misleading" media coverage.

Sir William said he felt he had to defend his report on the crash, which concluded that pilots Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook were negligent.

Sir Malcolm said: "I don't think anyone's accused either him or the Ministry of Defence of a cover-up.

Air Chief Marshal Sir William Wratten

"I think it is more an accusation of stubborness that, faced with an accumulating amount of evidence, that at least opens up areas of significant doubt, they have simply fallen back on the fact that, because they could not prove other reasons for the accident therefore it must have been gross negligence.

"What he doesn't mention in his article is why, two highly experience pilots should nevertheless on that day have flouted all the basic rules and flown through heavy fog and into the Mull of Kintyre.

"That must at least open up the possibility, given that there was no black box available, that there was some technical malfunction."

Sir Malcolm went on: "I'm seeing Geoff Hoon, the secretary of state for defence, on Tuesday morning and I'm going to make clear that no-one is saying that they are now convinced that there is another explanation for the accident.

"It is simply because there is uncertainty. . . you cannot be certain that it was the negligence of the pilots."

The pilots were accused of gross negligence

Writing in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, Sir William Wratten said he had been forced to speak out by the increasingly vocal campaign to set aside his verdict of gross negligence.

He said: "They were in grave danger, solely through failing to exercise the skill and judgment of which they were capable and as they were trained to do."

Sir William states that as the pilots approached the "deteriorating weather" they had two choices: to slow down and turn back, or climb to a safe altitude.

"The aircraft's avionics showed that the Chinook neither turned away nor turned back.

Training 'ignored'

"It proved that the pilots were in control of their aircraft at that moment.

"It also showed that they had flown into the bad weather at low level and at speed.

"I concluded that all the evidence pointed towards their having ignored one of the most basic tenets of airmanship."

Sir William's remarks drew an angry response from the friends and families of the dead pilots who said there was still considerable doubt about the evidence rendering the verdicts unsafe.