Scotland on Sunday 27 Jan 2002
Chinook accuser eyed to run RAF
BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR
. .A DEFENCE chief who controversially blamed two dead pilots for the Mull of Kintyre helicopter disaster is being groomed for the top job in the Royal Air Force.
Air Marshal Sir John Day and a senior colleague ruled that pilot error caused the 1994 Chinook disaster. The decision outraged the families of the dead pilots, who accused the RAF of ignoring its own rule that dead air crew cannot be blamed unless there is absolutely no doubt.
Despite the continuing controversy, Day has been revealed by military insiders as favourite to be the next chief of the air staff, second only to the chief of defence staff in the military hierarchy.
But campaigners fighting to clear the names of Flight Lieutenants Richard Cook and Jonathan Tapper last night warned that Day’s career could be in ruins if a House of Lords inquiry into the Chinook disaster overturns his findings, and the Ministry of Defence subsequently fails to quash its verdict in the case.
The crash of Zulu Delta 576 claimed 29 lives, including the cream of Northern Ireland’s anti-terrorism community.
The House of Lords committee that has been looking at the case is expected early next month to conclude that Day was wrong to blame the pilots.
The five-strong panel of senior peers, led by Lord Jauncey, spent three months taking evidence from witnesses, including Day.
Day stuck to his original position during questioning, although he told the Lords committee the ruling was "the most difficult decision I have had to make in my whole career".
Despite Day’s evidence, the committee is understood to believe that mechanical failure may have contributed to the crash. Such a finding would undermine Day’s verdict that pilot error caused the crash ‘beyond any doubt’.
Last night, the pilots’ families declined to comment about Day in advance of the committee report.
But Lord Chalfont, chair of the all-party Mull of Kintyre group, which led the campaign for a Lords inquiry, said: "I have heard it suggested that Sir John is the most likely candidate for the top job in the RAF.
"Obviously if this inquiry went against him it might affect his career.
"I don’t believe it should do so - as long as the MoD now accepts that his decision was a mistake."