This Chinook crash was not the first time aircrew were blamed in a case where there was obviously a different flight plan to that acknowledged – a classic example is the WW2 Sunderland crash with the Duke of Kent on board.
An official statement on that went as follows:
“Accident due to aircraft being on wrong track at too low altitude to clear rising ground on track. Captain of aircraft changed flight-plan for reasons unknown and descended through cloud without making sure he was over water and crashed.” …” weather conditions were fine and there was no evidence of mechanical failure.” ... “the responsibility for this serious mistake in airmanship lies with the captain of the aircraft”.
With a crew that included four experienced navigators.
That crash ended a peace process.