Ex-RAF test pilot says Chinook crashed on safety ‘show flight’

A Chinook helicopter that crashed in Scotland, killing 29 people more than 30 years ago, was being flown as a “show flight” after safety concerns were raised about its airworthiness, a former RAF test pilot has said.

Four crew and 25 passengers were killed when RAF Chinook ZD576 struck a hillside in foggy conditions over the Mull of Kintyre in 1994.

Retired Squadron Leader Robert Burke said the Mark 2 version of the Chinook had been chosen to demonstrate to the Army that a recent upgrade from the Mark 1 version was safe.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it sympathised with relatives of those killed but insisted the circumstances of the crash had already been thoroughly investigated.

The allegation comes ahead of the rebroadcast this weekend of a BBC documentary which first aired concerns about the airworthiness of the Mark 2 Chinook.

Sq Ldr Burke, who was a unit test pilot based at RAF Odiham at the time of the crash, made the new allegation during recent discussions with relatives who have been campaigning for a new public inquiry.

He has said the Mark 2 version was chosen despite safety concerns being raised about its airworthiness by RAF test engineers and pilots.

The former test pilot said he believed that internal politics between the Army and RAF might have influenced the decision to use the Mark 2 aircraft.

Many of the passengers who died were senior members of the security services who were travelling from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George near Inverness, for a conference believed to about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

“The reason why that aircraft was flown in spite of all the reservations, and indeed the request from one of the dead pilots at the time, was to show the Army that the Chinook programme was running on time and the Mark 2 was perfectly safe to go into service,” he said.

“It was a show flight. This journey – from airfield to airfield – was a perfect opportunity to fly such a high-profile group in an RAF Hercules for instance.

“Not in a helicopter about which there were so many concerns. It was a gesture, that flight. A reckless act, but a show flight – it’s as simple, and utterly tragic, as that.”

It was previously revealed that the pilots had requested to fly a Mark 1 version of the Chinook or two Puma helicopters which were on stand-by.

It has also been revealed that files relating to the crash will not be made public for 100 years.

Sq Ldr Burke suggested this was part of an attempt to cover up the true facts surrounding the disaster.

Patricia Conroy, from South Belfast, lost her father, Det Ch Supt Desmond Conroy, in the crash. He was 55.

Ms Conroy said: “I feel sick to my stomach to discover that this flight was a show flight to effectively try to end an argument between the RAF and the Army about the safety of the Chinook fleet.

“Instead, that decision ended my Daddy’s life and started a lifetime of bereavement, trauma and a search for the truth.”

Several families have written an open letter to the UK government renewing calls for a public inquiry.

Last week, the prime minister wrote to families telling them an inquiry would not be in the public interest.

The crash on 2 June 1994 remains one of the RAF’s worst peacetime losses of life.

Two pilots accused of negligence over the disaster were exonerated 17 years later.

An MoD spokesperson said the crash was a “tragic accident” and that “the lack of certainty” about the crash had added to the distress for families.

The spokesperson said: “We provided a detailed and considered response to the pre-action protocol letter stating the reasons why we cannot accept the demand for establishing a new public inquiry.

“It’s unlikely that a public inquiry would identify any new evidence or reach new conclusions on the basis of existing evidence.

“The accident has already been the subject of six inquiries and investigations, including an independent judge-led review.”