1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crash
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 2 June 1994 |
| Summary | CFIT, cause undetermined |
| Site |
Mull of Kintyre, Scotland 55°18′48″N 5°47′37″W / 55.31333°N 5.79361°WCoordinates: 55°18′48″N 5°47′37″W / 55.31333°N 5.79361°W |
| Passengers | 25 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Fatalities | 29 (all) |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 0 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | Boeing Chinook |
| Operator | Royal Air Force |
| Registration | ZD576 |
| Flight origin | RAF Aldergrove (near Belfast, Northern Ireland) |
| Destination | Inverness, Scotland |
The 1994 Mull of Kintyre RAF Chinook crash occurred on 2 June 1994 at about 18:00 hours when a Royal Air Force (RAF) Chinook helicopter (serial number ZD576, callsign F4J40) crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. The crash, which occurred during thick foggy conditions, resulted in the deaths of all twenty-five passengers and four crew on board. Among the passengers were almost all the United Kingdom's senior Northern Ireland intelligence experts. The accident holds the unfortunate distinction of being the worst peacetime disaster to have been suffered by the RAF.
In 1995, an RAF board of inquiry ruled that it was impossible to establish the exact cause of the accident. This ruling was subsequently overturned by two senior reviewing officers, who stated the pilots were guilty of gross negligence for flying too fast and too low in thick fog. This finding proved to be controversial, especially in light of irregularities and technical issues surrounding the then-new Chinook HC.2 variant which were uncovered. A Parliamentary inquiry conducted in 2001 found the previous verdict of gross negligence on the part of the crew to be 'unjustified'. In 2011, an independent review of the crash cleared the crew of negligence.
Earlier on 2 June 1994, the helicopter and crew had carried out a trooping flight, as it was considered to be unsafe for British troops to move around in certain parts of Northern Ireland using surface transport at the time due to the threat posed by Provisional IRA attacks. This mission was safely accomplished and they returned to Aldergrove at 15:20. They took off for Inverness at 17:42. Weather en route was forecast to be clear except in the Mull of Kintyre area. The crew made contact with military air traffic control (ATC) in Scotland at 17:55.
Around 18:00, Chinook ZD576 flew into a hillside in dense fog. The pilots were Flight Lieutenants Jonathan Tapper, 28, and Rick Cook, 30. Both of them were pilots in the United Kingdom Special Forces. There were two other crew. The helicopter was carrying 25 British intelligence experts from MI5, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army, from RAF Aldergrove (outside Belfast, Northern Ireland) to attend a conference at Fort George (near Inverness) in Scotland. At the time of the accident Air Chief Marshal Sir William Wratten called it "the largest peacetime tragedy the RAF had suffered".
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