ON THE evening of Thursday 2 June 1994, Mull of Kintyre lighthouse keeper David Murchie was preparing to go off duty. A thick fog had clung to the lighthouse on the Mull most of the day and the whole peninsula had been wreathed in mist.
Close to 6pm Murchie heard the dull whoomph of helicopter blades approaching from the sea. Recognising the sound of a Chinook and concerned about poor visibility, he ran outside. He heard a thud, silence and then a fireball came rolling down from the hills behind.
On the hillside the wrecked remains of the Chinook could be seen as the mist eddied and swirled. Twenty-nine men and women were killed outright.
The loss of RAF Chinook ZD576 was the worst peacetime accident in the force's history. The Ministry of Defence lost an aircraft worth £11 million and paid out £15 million in compensation to the relatives of those who lost loved-ones in the crash.
It was also the start of one of the most controversial inquiries with which the armed forces had ever been involved.
The Chinook helicopter left RAF Aldergrove, near Belfast, at 5:42 that evening. Onboard were four RAF crew including the pilots, flight lieutenants Richard Cook and Jonathan Tapper. Also travelling were 25 terrorism experts: senior police officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary, five majors and one colonel from the British Army. They were on their way to a security conference at Fort George near Inverness.
The flight path was across the North Channel, flying left at the Mull of Kintyre and up the coast to Inverness. A yachtsman in the channel reported afterwards that the helicopter was flying low and, as it approached the Mull, visibility became poor.
When the helicopter reached land it entered the cloud and began to climb, but not enough to clear the ground. Why it failed to gain enough height has remained a mystery for years and created huge controversy.
Steuart Campbell, author of the book
Chinook Crash, spent six years looking into the possible causes of the accident and messy aftermath.
"It was controversial because no-one could say what had caused the accident," he says. "The RAF said it had flown into the hill, but that's not an explanation."
Whilst the families of those killed were beginning to grieve, a number of inquiries took place. First was the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) which was asked by the RAF to look into the crash. Despite extensive and painstaking reconstruction they found no evidence of explosive, or damage before impact. Nor did they find any faults or evidence of malfunction.
They concluded that the cause of the crash was unknown.
Next to hold an inquiry was the RAF. Its Board of Inquiry considered factors that might have led to the accident, including birdstrike, mid-air collision and the crew's mental state. The board dismissed most possibilities, noting the inconclusive findings of the AAIB report. They also found nothing to indicate what caused the crash, commenting only that the helicopter was at the wrong rate of climb as it approached the Mull - which they thought was the cause of the crash. The most controversial aspects of the inquiry were found in parts four and five of the report.
Part four consisted of remarks by Air Vice-Marshal John Day, who concluded that Tapper, as captain, failed to exercise appropriate care and judgment by not altering the rate of climb. Day found Tapper was negligent to a gross degree. He also found Cook, the co-pilot, negligent to a gross degree. His remarks were supported by Air Chief Marshal Sir William Wratten in part five.
The verdict of gross negligence on the part of the pilots has outraged the families involved, who have steadfastly refused to accept that the accident was caused by pilot error.
In January 1996 a Fatal Accident Inquiry - the last major inquiry to look at the crash - was set up in Scotland. This was the first time that any of the evidence had been heard in public and family members and the press converged on the court in Paisley, Renfrewshire. It lasted four weeks, the transcript ran to over half a million words, and once more the cause of the crash was left open.
In his book, Campbell concludes that the crash was caused by a serious navigational error by the crew - which would not have mattered had they followed regulations and climbed to a safe altitude in cloud.
Unable to accept the comments by the two air chiefs, the families have continually called for a reopening of the inquiry and for their sons to be cleared. Their cause was taken up by members of both Houses of Parliament. Over the years more than 200 questions about the incident have been asked in parliament, there have been debates in both Houses and the crash has been considered by ten ministers from two governments.
The last time the case was heard was when the House of Lords debated a Select Committee report on the accident in November 2002. This report concluded that the cause of the crash would never be known.
For their part the air marshals have no doubts and stoutly defend their verdict.
The parents will never believe that their sons were guilty.
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