Andy Nicholls,
You are quite right, there has been a lot of speculation regarding this accident. To some it quite clear that the entire Crew are innocent and to others that the the Pilots (for there has never been any suggestion that the Cabin Crew had any influence over the Pilots decisions) were negligent.
The Flight was authorised to be conducted at low level under Visual Flight Rules. The aircraft, however, crashed into a fog enshrouded hillside in conditions that bore no resemblance to "Visual Flight Rules". The words "visual" and "fog" do not gel well together. Incidentaly, the Lighthouse Keeper is a qualified Met Observer.
Those are the salient facts regarding the evidence of the accident as provided by the Board of Inquiry. There was no Distress Call - neither was the Transponder selected to Emergency. NB Either of these actions would have triggered a response from SARSAT and alerted the Accident And Emergency Cell at West Drayton.
The people at the Lighthouse on the Mull were in ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER about the weather conditions. The Deputy Lighthouse Keeper was driving back down the Hill when the Chinook exploded on the hillside behind him - he heard, but never saw, the aircraft.
There was no evidence of Hostile Action, Explosion, Structural Failure, Crew Incapacitation, Birdstrike or failure of Navigation Equipment.
This was one of the 764 Accidents that occurred during my time in the RAF - and I do not recall anybody standing up and saying "Its a fair Cop guv"