I wrote the following letter to the Daily Telegraph on Sunday. It seems that they have ignored it as they have done in the past with letters from us 'Three Fellows'. As the Editor will not gives us a chance to reply, I felt it should be shared with the readers of this thread. I wrote as follows:
MULL OF KINTYRE REVIEW
Five Air Chief Marshals indicated (DT 14 January – Chinook accident review) they would welcome the opportunity to, quote: “… explain precisely why it (the verdict) cannot be overturned by recourse to a hypothesis for which there is no evidence and which is revealed as wholly implausible when tested against known facts”, unquote.
We welcome the Air Chief Marshals having a chance to make their points to Ministers as part of a new Inquiry provided that all available evidence is heard this time. That would, of course, include previously withheld evidence about MoD's failure to implement airworthiness regulations; the same failings highlighted last year by the Haddon-Cave report.
The unanswered questions are, why were the pilots charged with Gross Negligence based upon pure supposition with no actual facts by the two senior reviewing officers, who overturned the RAF’s own Board of Inquiry that could not apportion blame; and why was the aircraft released to Service whilst still not fully Airworthy.
We look forward with interest to hearing those responsible explain their actions.
Captain Ralph Kohn, Captain Ron Macdonald and Captain Richard KJ Hadlow
Compiler and co-authors of the Macdonald Report (April 2000 & January 2010 Addendum 4)
The Macdonald Report 2000 with Addendum 4 (2010) may be found on
http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/20816348/2ecf7hocouvm9wc81ngw