Tecumse
However unairworthy the beast may have been, if you do the chartwork you would surely agree that it had carried them to a point closer to a hazard in the prevailing conditions than was prudent unless they had business to do so – a point where by their actions in changing the waypoint strongly suggested that there was no problem with the a/c. The only merit in the continuance of the airworthiness debate in this instance is if you think a better performing Chinook could have helped them in a desperate evasive manouevre – perhaps you may be right but if you want to clear the pilots' names you'd better be looking at what reasons they could possibly have had for going in there because if their sole objective was to transport the passengers safely to Inverness they were indeed negligent.