FINT (11-17December) Nimrod's forgotton warnings?

 From this week's Flight International:

The Royal Air Force’s loss of a Nimrod MR2 reconnaissance aircraft and 14 lives over Afghanistan last year remains a poignant symbol of the operational troubles facing the UK’s stretched armed forces.
Delivered in 1970 as a maritime patrol aircraft, XV230 had been forced into an overland surveillance role for which it had never been intended, but which the underfunded RAF says remains vital in protecting British and coalition lives “on an almost daily basis”.
A board of inquiry report has exposed the terrible nature of the crash, and revealed that the threat of fire posed by the MR2’s frequent fuel leaks had been underestimated, or simply forgotten about, since they were identified in the mid-1980s. This revelation has turned a tragedy into a scandal from which the Ministry of Defence and RAF say they will quickly learn.
The government and the air force were right to apologise for the failings which led to the crash, and their offers of a possible public inquiry will hearten those families still seeking answers after the earlier losses of Chinook ZD576 and Hercules XV179.
Two more major fuel leaks have raised fresh doubts about the MR2’s ability to soldier on until 2012, and if the UK had avoided its failings on the Nimrod MRA4 then these aircraft, and XV230, would have already left service.
Heaven forbid that delays with new tankers, transports and helicopters have similar results

It is my own opinion that the British Government, MOD. RAF have always known of many long standing technical problems with many aircraft. This goes back in history a long long way.

I myself remember defects on Sea Venoms relating to the Artificial Horizon when the carrier was underway and turning etc.....I witness many of these lovely aircraft dive into the sea and only one crewman survived (he just happened to be a fanatic at safety and always practiced ditching techniques).

The MOD would not take them out of service, despite the heavy losses because they didnt have a suitable night fighter replacement aircraft.

I note the comment above re the Chinook ZD576 accident and the way the MOD/RAF immediately blamed the crew and this accidnet ? I found to be most disgusting in the outcome.

At long last they have withdrawn the crew error story and now at last another inquiry will be launched but will it be a sincere investigation is the question.

I have been associated with both the airline and helicopter world and decided to carry out my own investigation after receiving some very disturbing news which I will now disclose to the readers of this wonderful magazine that I love reading:

Chinook ZD576

• This particular type of Chinook (HC2) had a long history of problems which were known to the authorities and in particular at Boscombe Down immediately prior to the accident. The very aircraft itself had also encountered serious problems prior to the day of the accident.

 

• It is a common understanding that ZD576 was not a serviceable aircraft in the true sense and had this been a civilian Chinook it would never have been allowed to depart. In civil aviation we have in our operational manual what we call allowable deficiencies. This basically is a list of go or no go items. 

 

• The weather was typical coastal type weather with some hills shrouded in cloud or mist and it was obvious from the account of the Mr. Holbrook (the boat skipper) that visibility at sea level was reasonable. From my experience the cloud/mist on the coastal hills is continuously swirling around with a fluctuating cloud base. The fact that the lighthouse keeper did not have good visibility is because he was at a higher level and in a totally different position. Mr. Holbrook could see the surrounds of the lighthouse and the approaching helicopter.

 

• As an expert in aviation security it is not normal for such people as Royal Family, VIP, and CEO/Directors to travel on the same aircraft in such number for obvious reasons. Why was such a high profile group allowed to travel on one helicopter?

 

• The Chinook departed Aldergrove as a VFR flight and did transit the northeast part of Northern Ireland before its sea transit to the Mull of Kintyre without incident. It is therefore obvious that no matter what was programmed into the computer the flight was still carried out under VFR rules with the crew having the ability to adjust accordingly.

 

• The crew would have selected on their Sat Nav (whilst still at Aldergrove) their first waypoint which was A and also programmed in their second waypoint B etc.

 

• As the crew visually monitored the approaching Mull of Kintyre headland they would have been extremely alert and ready to call ATC with a position report i.e. waypoint A and at the same time selected waypoint B. If in those final moment the crew could see that their select waypoint was putting their aircraft into danger then again that would have de activated and corrected their course to fly up the western side of the Mull of Kintyre  peninsula.

• A call to ATC was made but no response was given and one has to ask why not as this was a very special flight and the RAF would have been carrying out flight following procedures. One would also expect this to be their position report, ahead of the turn, having also gone visual with the lighthouse. 

 

• One can therefore only assume at this moment something catastrophic occurred that took away the ability of the crew to control the helicopter. This can only lead to five possible causes - Catastrophic Failure of the control mechanism - Contamination of the Hydraulic System - FADEC failure - Interference to the aircraft by either outside or inside persons - Crew Error.  

 

• It is also common knowledge that the Mull of Kintyre is in itself a very secretive location used as a testing ground for advanced (next generation) high tech military aircraft as well as US Navy Seals. One would therefore assume that the area was monitored continuously by both the RAF and the US with their usual array of sophisticated tracking systems and radar etc.

 

• There would have been other fishing boats around and one could ask the question how much effort was put into obtaining witnesses, how was the screening carried out and were all witnesses taken to their location on that day to display, explain or visually show what they saw or heard etc.

 

• Why wasn’t the possibility of inside or outside sabotage or external control of the aircraft looked at more deeply? This has been discussed at other aircraft accidents but did not play a significant part in this inquiry. The status and importance of the passengers onboard would have certainly made this a distinct possibility.

In regard to the latter i.e. that of sabotage; I have myself received vital information, from a very senior ex intelligence officer, that this was an inside job. It was during a very lengthy conversation on the 4^th of August 2010 that this person disclosed that the Chinook was not an accident but one that had been planned from the office where the intelligence officer had previously worked.

I immediately discussed this with my friend (ex RAF) and carried out my own research. It was only last week that I again made contact with him and told him, that in my opinion, the investigation  was a cover up in some way and one would have to take such evidence into consideration. He advised me that if I do not take this up with the police immediately, then he will. We both then proceeded to our local police station to report the contents of this telephone call.

The contents of the telephone call were noted by the Derby Police HQ, St Mary’s Wharf, Derby under incident number 620 dated 07/10/2010. Both Gordon Bowden and I are still waiting for a fully recorded interview, to be taken under oath, which to date still has not taken place. In my opinion it is therefore vital that my informant be interviewed to clarify what was said and for that person to substantiate the comments made.

Peter Eyre

Aviation Consultant – Senior Operations Officer Airline/Helicopter – SAR Coordinator.  

 

I would ask anyone reading this to not only pass comment on the issues I have raised but also to post this in as many places as possible. The highly qualified crew of this Special Operations Chinook must be totally cleared so that they can rest in peace and all those very senior passengers that were on the flight.

In passing I would like for us all to remember them, as listed below; 

 

Flight Lieutenant Jonathan Tapper, Pilot.

 

Flight Lieutenant Richard Cook, Pilot.

 

Graeme W. Forbes, Master Air Load Master.

 

Sergeant Kevin A. Hardie, Loadmaster.

 

 

Passengers Killed in the Crash:

 

Brian Fitzsimons, Assistant Chief Constable.

 

Desmond Conroy, Detective Chief Superintendent.

 

Maurice Reilly, Detective Chief Superintendent.

 

Phillip Davidson, Detective Superintendent.

 

Robert Foster, Detective Superintendent.

 

Billy Gwilliam, Detective Superintendent.

 

Ian Phoenix, Detective Superintendent.

 

Denis Bunting, Detective Chief Inspector.

 

Stephen Davidson, Detective Inspector.

 

Kevin Magee, Detective Inspector.

 

John Deverill, Home Office CB-57.

 

Christopher Biles, Colonel, OBE.

 

Richard Gregory-Smith, Lieutenant Colonel.

 

John Tobias, Lieutenant Colonel.

 

George Williams, Lieutenant Colonel.

 

Christopher J. Docherty, Major.

 

Anthony Hornby, Major.

 

Gary Sparks, Major.

 

Richard Allen, Major.

 

Roy Pugh, Major.

 

Anne James.

 

Martin Dalton.

 

John Haynes.

 

Michael Maltby.

 

Stephen Rickard.

 

  May they all rest in peace and may we all see true justice prevail

 

Peter Eyre 

• Filed under: Chinook ZD576