Hi Cazatou,
It is also a
fact that the same Commanding Officer stated that "the crew faced with the expected deteriorating weather, consciously elected to make a climb on track over high ground and in doing so used a speed and power combination that is unrecognisable as a Chinook technique. I find this difficult to believe; such actions would go against all the crew's instincs and training."
Now, as we all accept, every aircraft Captain has a duty of care to their crew and passengers. The Chinook crashed and all on board were killed. As an isolated statement, OC Odiham is correct. The Captain failed in that duty. What OC Odiham does not claim is that the crew were grossly negligent or that he knows why the Chinook crashed.
He further goes on to state that the Board were unable to discount the following factors:
- An unregistered technical malfunction
Concluding, "Any of these, or a combination of them, could, in my view, have sufficiently distracted the crew from the task of turning away from the Mull to cause them to inadvertently enter cloud, and then fail to take the correct procedure for an emergenty climb in a timely manner."
Now let us look at the President, and Board members conclusion -
In respect of Jonathan Tapper, they wrote:
"The Board was unable to positively determine the sequence of events leading up to the accident, and therefore concluded that although it is likely that Flt Lt Tapper made an Error of Judgement in the conduct of the attempted climb over the Mull of Kintyre, it would be incorrect to criticise him for human failings based on the available evidence."
In respect of Flt Lt Cook, they wrote:
"The Board concluded that there were no human failings with respect to Flt Lt Cook."
So, there it is. The first time Gross Negligence is mentioned is in the conclusion of the first Reviewing Officer, who read a report and took legal advice.
Fact
My best, as always,
Brian
"Justice has no expiry date" - John Cook