MP questions Hoon over Iraq crash
from BBC Online...
MP questions Hoon over Iraq crash
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is facing questions over claims a helicopter crash in Iraq might have been avoided if the pilots had worn night goggles.
Liberal Democrat MP Paul Tyler is tabling questions on the collision of the two Navy helicopters last year.
It comes after the widow of a soldier killed in Iraq without body armour urged Mr Hoon to consider his position.
The Ministry of Defence says night vision goggles are not standard issue for Sea King helicopter pilots.
Amazement
Seven aircrew based at the Navy's Culdrose air station in Cornwall were killed when the two helicopters collided in mid-air in the Gulf last March.
The helicopters had been operating from HMS Ark Royal.
A board of inquiry last June said that had one of the helicopters' pilots been wearing night vision goggles the crash might have been avoided.
Mr Tyler said he was "amazed" the helicopter pilots had not been wearing night vision goggles.
He told BBC News Online: "Potentially, this is a very damaging extra bit of evidence about inadequate provision of equipment."
The Lib Dem frontbencher accompanied Samantha Roberts to her meeting with Mr Hoon on Monday about why her husband Steve died in Iraq after handing over his flak jacket to another unit.
'Not standard issue'
The Independent on Sunday newspaper this week said senior Navy officers had told several families at a private meeting last June that flying conditions would have been "poor" at the time of the crash.
A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman said the board of inquiry had recommended the government look at providing Sea King pilots with night vision goggles.
The aircraft were not normally fitted for pilots using the goggles - which needed the cockpit to be changed, he said.
Night vision goggles were designed for low-level flying and had never been envisaged for the high-altitude surveillance role performed by the Sea Kings.
"The visibility at the time certainly was not poor, it was reduced but not unusual and certainly far better than conditions we have often flown in before," said the spokesman.
Aircraft flying towards the Ark Royal could see the ship from five miles away, he added.
Taking responsibility
Mr Hoon has rejected calls for his resignation over the death of Sergeant Steve Roberts but says he is sorry he did not have enhanced body armour.
After her meeting with the minister, Mrs Roberts branded as "disgraceful" her treatment by the MoD as she tried to get the facts about why her husband did not have the life-saving equipment.
"I think he should consider his position very seriously because I feel that someone is responsible... and he has not directly accepted responsibility," she told reporters after the meeting in Whitehall.
Mr Hoon has invited her back for a third meeting when the investigation into Sgt Roberts' death is complete.
In a statement, the MoD said Mr Hoon had told the widow he had asked the MoD to examine whether the equipment could become "standard issue to all personnel".
He also asked the chain of command to "look again" at the way it keeps families informed as investigations proceed.