It does appear that when a specialist enquiry has already taken place which establishes the same key data, a FAI is less likely to be held.
According to the 1976 Act only information taken during a public criminal investigation is acceptable. Lord Philips made it quite clear during his MoK inquiry that a BoI is an internal process that is not a substitute for a legal inquiry into the circumstances of a death.
Of course all of these crews were at work at the time of the incident so an FAI should be automatic.
This, like a number of other accidents, involved work related deaths; the Act was intended to cover that category. It even uses the word 'occupation', which according to Lord Cambell of Croy (House of Lords 9th Dec 1975) would seem to cover an accident in virtually any kind of employment. However, as I have stated before, the Crown Office of Scotland has latched on to another word use in the Act, that of 'employee'. They claim that under Scottish law members of the armed services are not employees, so no mandatory FAI. A discretionary can be called by the Lord Advocate, in the public interest, but there is no record of that ever happening since the introduction of the 1976 Act.
Or the 819 SQN Navy Sea King crash near Leuchars in Jun 85. 1 killed, 1 badly injured and 2 minor injuries.
Do you know if this, or any other fatal accident, was followed up with an FAI or Coroner's Inquest?
DV