Chinook probe 'must give answers'
The wreckage of the Chinook helicopter which crashed on the Mull of Kintyre killing all 29 on board
Wednesday September 08 2010
An independent review of the Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre must provide answers, it has been demanded.
Families of the 29 killed in the 1994 accident, including senior security service members, deserve the truth, DUP MP Nigel Dodds added.
There have been concerns after the RAF found the pilots guilty of "gross negligence". A review by a lawyer was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
Mr Dodds said: "It is important that we establish the truth around this incident beyond any shadow of a doubt.
"We must provide the families of those who lost their lives and those who have been accused of the responsibility for that, with a sense of closure and reliable answers as to what exactly happened."
Senior police, Army and MI5 officers were among the dead when the Chinook crashed in thick fog on a remote hillside in June 1994 during a flight from Belfast to Inverness.
An initial RAF inquiry ruled that the pilots, Flight Lieutenants Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook, were guilty of "gross negligence" for flying too low and too fast.
But campaigners have called for the pilots to be cleared after leaked documents suggested the helicopter was brought down by computer software failures.
Mr Dodds said for the families of the pilots it had been an incredible burden to carry.
"The loss of life at the Mull of Kintyre was a sad blow to the forces of law and order - many of the leading anti-terrorism experts who had made such a valuable contribution to defeating the IRA lost their lives in the incident," he added.
