10 years since the loss of Chinnok ZD576

[Royal]

RIP

Richard Allen
Christopher John Biles
Dennis Stanley Bunting
Desmond Patrick Conroy
Richard David Cook
Martin George Dalton
Phillip George Davidson
Stephen Davidson
John Robert Deverell
Christopher John Dockerty
John Charles Brian Fitzsimons
Graham William Forbes
Robert Patrick Foster
Richard Lawrence Gregory-Smith
William Rutherford Gwilliam
Kevin Andrew Hardie
John Stuart Haynes
Anthony Robert Hornby
Anne Catherine MacDonald
Kevin Michael Magee
Michael Bruce Maltby
Maurice McLaughlin Neilly
John Turbitt Phoenix
Roy Pugh
Stephen Lewis Rickard
Gary Paul Sparks
Jonathan Paul Tapper
John Tobias
George Victor Alexander Williams

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

ZD576 crashed on the Mull of Kintyre on the 2nd of June 1994 killing all 29 on board. The majority were senior intelligence experts from the RUC, British Army and Security Service.

It was a blow that we are only just recovering from. I only hope that the continued publicity will lead to the exoneration of the pilots; Flt Lts Jon Tapper and Rick Cook.

http://www.chinook-justice.org/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3768157.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/2/newsid_2495000/2495409.stm

[mack pl]

RIP :(

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

That was one sad loss two fine pilots and some of our best counter-terror experts. :(

[2RHPZ]

RIP

Chinook simulations fail to prove pilot negligence - 1994 Chinook ZD576 helicopter crash

Computer Weekly, *July 25, 2002 *by Nick Huber
Tony Collins

New computer simulations by heli- copter manufacturer Boeing on the last moments of RAF Chinook ZD576 have failed to provide a firm conclusion as to the cause of the aircraft's crash in June 1994, Computer Weekly has learned.
Despite this uncertain conclusion, the Ministry of Defence this week cited Boeing's analyses as supporting its contention that the two pilots of ZD576 had been grossly negligent in flying an airworthy helicopter straight into the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. The crash killed all 29 people on board, including 25 senior police and intelligence personnel.
On Monday in the House of Commons and the Lords, defence ministers made statements in response to the report of a specially-convened Lords select committee, which spent several months investigating the crash and concluded unanimously that the verdict of pilot negligence was not justified. The committee was chaired by former Appeal Court judge Lord Jauncey.
In their statements this week, the defence secretary Geoffrey Hoon and Lords defence minister Lord Bach made it clear that the MoD will never set aside a verdict of negligence on the two pilots blamed for the crash.
Hoon said Chinook ZD576 was "almost certainly responding properly to its controls, at least in the final seconds before impact". He added that 10 ministers have all believed that the pilots were negligent.
But Labour MP Martin O'Neill told Hoon, "Many of us think that 10 ministers coming to the same conclusion on the basis of the same advice from the same group of officials is not a source of consolation."
Boeing's report was lodged this week but was not made available directly to the public or the media.
It contains the results of new computer simulations requested by the MoD after the Lords committee criticised Boeing's original simulation for failing to model all of the specific features of the Chinook's safety-critical Full Authority Digital Engine Control (Fadec) system.
A campaign by Computer Weekly has set out to show that technical problems, possibly involving the Chinook's Fadec system, could have been a factor in the crash.
In its latest 120-page report, Boeing provides ample material to support both the MoD's interpretation of events in the last moments of flight, and also the department's critics, who say there are manifest doubts over the cause of the accident internally within Parliament.
"While it seems improbable that such an experienced aircrew could have ended up flying an airworthy aircraft into terrain, the alternative explanations [such as computer problems] are even more improbable," said Boeing.
But its report also said, "Even with cockpit and flight data recorders there is always room for doubt." RAF rules at the time of the crash of ZD576 were that deceased aircrew could be found negligent only if there was "absolutely no doubt whatsoever".
Parliamentary debates on the MoD's response to the Lords report are expected to take place in the autumn.

[kris777]

RIP

It's terrible how the pilot's families still have the accusations of guilt against them. :(

[Pooga]

How can they have negligence? You have to be 100% focused and coordinated when flying a helo. A pilot, better 2, would know that like they know the fur on their teeth.

Forgive my ignorance, but how did the helo crash (dropped or ran into something)?

:(

[Royal]

How can they have negligence? You have to be 100% focused and coordinated when flying a helo. A pilot, better 2, would know that like they know the fur on their teeth.

Forgive my ignorance, but how did the helo crash (dropped or ran into something)?

:(

They flew into the Mull of Kintyre (a 1100 foot headland) after crossing the Irish Sea. Both pilots were experienced SF pilots used to flying HC2's in poor conditions.

[martinexsquaddie]

chinnooks and the RAf don't have a good record someone some where is trying to cover up sometheing or is the MOD just being stubborn :(

[oldsoak]

Easy thing to blame pilots - rather than say this 'ere widget they were relying on dont work like it should. Sometimes I wonder whether the end users are regarded as goons by the MOD and treated accordingly - remember when early problems with the SA80 were put down to "need for proper training" - not the fact that the design needed serious tweaking.

[Uncle Chô]

chinooks and the RAf don't have a good record
How come ? Did other crash(es) happen ?

[Ian H]

I don't know of any specific crashes, but there have been major problems in procurement. We ordered some HC.3 Chinooks(roughly equivalent to the MH-47) for delivery in 1998, and they were delivered in 2001, but they have major problems with their avionics software, which means they have not been certified as safe to fly in anything other than cloudless skies, and not below 500ft, a situation unlikely to be remedied before 2007, and the cost means they may not be kept at all.

:D :|