It would seem that the Chinook, incredibly important workhouse that it is, has posed a challenge to its crews from the start. The incident that you highlight, tuc, and the professional way that it was handled is yet another example, as if one were needed, of the competence of the crews who fly it. That is why it is so frustrating that the Mull pilots have been dealt with so arbitrarily and harshly when the fault lay far away, IMHO, among much lesser men and women. So to return to Mull:
It seems to me that with a 25kt wind up their chuff it is almost impossible to imagine the transit was in excess of 140kts IAS, indeed from the leaving zone time fix provided much much later by the MOD and the time of impact, the MOD's own timings infer an average IAS far below that. So they were not "flying too fast" as they were probably flying in accordance with VFR to the waypoint and hence not negligent. That further reduces the energy available at the start of the climb, in turn further reducing the ability to perform the flare manoeuvre which wasn't possible even using the AM's/ Boeing's postulated figures. Thus the configuration at impact, as found in the wreckage is more likely to be what it seems, the shattered remains of an aircraft that crashed out of control. For those who have until now been resigned to the likelihood of pilot error but were repelled by the epitaph of Gross Negligence passed in flagrant disregard of RAF procedure, I would simply say please think again. Go to the HoL link in my previous but one post and read between the lines. In particular study the testimony of Mr Cable the AAIB Accident Inspector. I would suggest that here is a man deeply concerned with the RAF Investigation and its outcome. An Investigation that was not his and to which he was merely attached to do the bidding of the BoI. His continual qualification of the BoI conclusions speaks volumes. There was Gross Negligence on that hillside undoubtedly, but it had been deposited into that airframe long before by those who far outranked the JO's that have been the scapegoats for those actions ever since.
Let Right Be Done!
Last edited by Chugalug2; 23rd Jul 2009 at 10:38.