Major breakthrough for bereaved households of Chinook helicopter tragedy victims as they battle for public inquiry
Families of the Chinook helicopter tragedy victims have made a major breakthrough in their campaign for a public inquiry after UK Government ministers agreed to a meeting.
Bereaved relatives say repeated requests to meet the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary or any other minister have been rejected over the past 18 months.
Now three Ministry of Defence (MoD) ministers – Lord Coaker, Al Carns, and Louise Sandher-Jones – as well as the Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones have agreed to a summit with the families on December 16.
The families say for three decades, they have faced a ‘fog of official secrecy, denial, deceit, and dishonesty’ from the MoD along with ‘shifting explanations and an absence of evidence’.
The UK Government has sealed crucial files until 2094 – long after even the children of those who perished in the crash will themselves have died, leaving families without answers about why their loved ones were placed aboard a helicopter that was known by the RAF and MoD to be unairworthy.
Nicola Rawcliffe, whose brother Chris was one of the victims, said: ‘The actions of the MoD and the Government continue, daily, to cause not just emotional and psychological distress but intellectual distress as well.
‘We have mountains of evidence about the circumstances surrounding the crash, but the MoD and ministers deny the reality, refuse to acknowledge the evidence or – until now – to meet us.
‘So far, they have made out that we families are stupid and should go away.
All 29 people on board died when the Chinook, en-route from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George, Inverness-shire, crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994
Family members of the victims of the Chinook crash arrive at 10 Downing Street in October this year to deliver a petition
‘All of this adds to the ambiguous nature of our loss and is an unacceptable abuse of power from a government committed to candour.
‘Perhaps now they have deigned to meet us – not just one minister but four of them – we are getting somewhere – we will see.’
Psychologist Dr Susan Phoenix, whose husband Ian, a senior Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer, died in the crash, is one of the longest-standing campaigners for truth and transparency on the disaster.
She said: ‘Living in the permanent shadow of loss, we know that many of the other widows and their 47 sons and daughters who are part of this campaign, have faced the same struggle.
‘Together, we have had to navigate lives marked by absence — lives that feel incomplete, deprived of the peace that comes with knowing how or why our loved ones died.
‘Each time the Ministry of Defence refuses to give us answers, or the government closes its doors to us, the wound is reopened.
‘The silence deepens our grief and prolongs our search for truth.’
The families have already been vindicated once — when former Defence Secretary Sir Liam Fox cleared the pilots of blame — but they say critical questions remain unanswered about airworthiness, accountability and the decision to fly the Boeing Mark 2 Chinook on that fateful night, when it was known to be unsafe.
The families – who delivered a 50,000-signature petition to Number 10 last month – are calling on the Prime Minister to intervene personally, to overturn the MoD’s refusal to release all sealed documents, and to establish a full, judge-led public inquiry.
The crash in foggy conditions killed all 29 people on board, including the crew and officers from MI5, the Army and the RUC.
Former squadron leader Robert Burke has claimed ZD576 was ordered into the air as a ‘show flight’ to demonstrate the safety of the new Mark 2 upgrade.
When it went wrong, the families believe the truth was covered up by the MoD.
Key facts were allegedly withheld from every subsequent inquiry, while the main crash investigation failed to consider the crucial issue of the aircraft’s airworthiness.
