High Court Dismisses Legal Challenge Over 1994 RAF Chinook Crash

A High Court judge has dismissed a legal challenge against the Ministry of Defence over the 1994 RAF Chinook crash. The challenge was argued before the High Court on Tuesday. The Chinook Justice Campaign, representing more than 55 family members of 25 victims, seeks an independent review of the incident.

Lawyers told the court that information on the aircraft's airworthiness raises a more than arguable claim the helicopter was known to be unsafe. Sam Jacobs, for the CJC, said it is extraordinary that the bereaved families of 29 individuals still face unanswered questions about the RAF's worst peacetime disaster. Several relatives attended the hearing, and some wept during proceedings.

Andy Tobias, whose father Lieutenant Colonel John Tobias MBE died in the crash, described the day as hugely momentous. The helicopter crashed in the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, on 2 June 1994, killing all 29 people on board. It was transporting 25 intelligence experts and four special forces crew from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George near Inverness in foggy weather.

An internal Board of Inquiry in 1995 concluded pilot error by Flight Lieutenant Rick Cook and Jonathan Tapper caused the crash. The 2011 Mull of Kintyre Review exonerated the pilots but did not determine the cause. The CJC lawyers stated there were profound and stark concerns as to airworthiness, but no investigation had considered this issue.

They noted the crash occurred two days after delivery following a fraught upgrade, that the Ministry of Defence was suing Boeing over the upgrade, and that a safety-critical engine control system had a density of deficiencies. The helicopter needed one of its engines replaced three times in the months before the crash, with issues also reported on its second engine.