The RAF Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre in June 1994, in which 25 RUC and intelligence personnel and four RAF members were killed, was not due to "fundamental flaws" in its design, a Commons Defence Committee report said yesterday.
The RAF board of inquiry report into the crash blamed "gross negligence" on the part of the pilots. But the Defence Committee said that it was not seeking to endorse or challenge that finding. It was satisfied that the RAF Chinook fleet appeared to be operating "reasonably safely and reliably."
The report added that there was a clear case for considering to what degree negligence was a factor in the accident, but that that should be investigated outside the board of inquiry system.