the chinook
as an ex serving member of the raf(non aircrew) the one thing that has always stuck in my mind about the chinook crash is the fact that the first two numbers on the chinook transponder were 77, this was not mentioned in the accident report but was reported in the fatal accident inquiry. incidentally the channel four documentary made a great fuss about the fai saying how there wouldnt have been one if the accident had happened in england. this is true, but in england it would have been the subject of an inquest by the coroner, coroners dont exist in scotland. i'll finish on a slightly cynical note, i cant help wondering if there would have been all this publicity if it had not been carrying all those int personnel(and just why were they all travelling together, it would have been a lot cheaper for them to go by civvy air) and if the father of one of the pilots hadnt been an ex airline captain, and if it had been nco pilots i dont think air marshal wratten would have found them negligent. dont forget wratten had sent out a letter to all station commanders about officers bahaviour, and not before time!