A copy of a letter from Adam Ingram to my local MP was forwarded to me today by him. It reads:
"Dear (MP),
Thank you for your letter of 22 July to Geoff Hoon enclosing one from your constituent (BEagle) about the Chinook accident on the Mull of Kintyre in June 1994. I am replying as this matter falls within my area of responsibility as Minister of State for the Armed Forces.
(BEagle) asks about the further work that we have commissioned from Boeing, and I should explain that although the Mull Board of Inquiry finding did not rely on Boeing's work, it was important that we sought clarification from the Company about the Chinook Select Committee's comments. We also asked Boeing to review their original flight profile analysis to include a full FADEC simulation.
Copies of this work, together with the Government's response to the Select Committee's report, were placed in the Library of both Houses on Monday 22 July 2002. This should allow ample time for appropriate scrutiny before the debate in the House of Lords after the Summer Recess.
On the matter of Boeing's further work, I would also stress that such simulations are an analysis tool, looking at probabilities and likelihood. Boeing's work was not intended to produce a factual reconstruction; rather it has provided greater understanding of the aircraft's capabilities and constraints. In doing so, it seriously undermined some of the malfunction hypotheses which have been put forward to explain the crash.
Yours aye
AI"
Well. Let me think for a moment. "probabilities and likelihood", "Boeing's work was not intended to produce a factual reconstruction", "seriously undermined some of the malfunction hypotheses"..................
Doesn't sound as though Boeing's simulation was able to rule out the possibility of a malfunction 'with no possible doubt whatsoever'.....