And a Happy New Year to you Brian and all the fellow Pprune supporters of your unceasing efforts to get a FAIR result for the crew.:ok:

It was MoD and the incumbent Secretary of State at whom I was directing my ire:mad:

A new Chinook ZD576 EDM has been put down in Parliament. It concerns principally the Church of Scotland General Assembly Deliverance concerning the accident, and calls on the Government to overturn its verdict of gross negligence.

It has been tabled by Robert Key (Con, Salisbury) and seconded by Angus Robertson, Ming Campbell and Lady Hermon amongst others. 14 signatures on its first appearance.

I'll post a link when it goes up on the web if I have the chance.

:ok:

Here is the link to the EDM:

http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=371

Here's to a just outcome for the deceased, their families, colleagues and friends.

Thanks Rex.

The EDM is number 371, and will be on the Parliamentary website tomorrow (9th Jan).

Please contact your MP and get them to support this EDM. It is extremely inportant that the MoD and the Government are made aware that there is still widespread concern over this injustice.

The last EDM managed to attract 170 signatures. Lets see if we can beat that this time around. To see if your MP supported the last EDM Click here

Ark: your man - 4 so far this session :ok:

Please spread the word, contact your MP, and also contact Mr Blair to ask that this injustice be rectified. Let's make the tenth anniversary the last one!

As always, the campaign is eternally grateful for your support.

My best.
Brian

"Justice has no expiry date" - John Cook

For those who are unsure as to how to contact their MP, here's how:

1. Go to http://www.locata.co.uk/commons/ . Enter your postcode where indicated and click on 'search'.

2. When the name of your MP is displayed, you will see that there is an e-mail contact link. Click on this and a simple form will then appear.

3. Write your comments and click on 'send'.

Be polite but firm with your comments!

Emailed my MP, Mr John Mann, today.

He signed last time, at my request, so hopefully he will again sign.

Thanks for the heads up, Brian. As you know my local tory boy 'ex SAS' MP 'invariably does not sign EDM's'. Only 4 so far this session, so I'll be checking what's hot on his agenda (last time it was the campaign to return the epilogue and national anthem to TV!), and ask him once again if he would be so kind as to support two of HM's loyal servants against an injustice he claims to disagree with. He was most indignant at being contacted 'by, I assume, one of your friends who goes by the name of "irritating sod"'

Just moved house, sadly still within his constituency!

Beags, agreed. I said in my opening gambit to the original thread that money just might be behind this travesty. When the MoD lost its immunity to claims, we were all told, as military pilots, that we could be held personally liable for any accidents. To the groans of disbelief came the reply 'of course, chaps, that would only be so in the case of your gross negligence, so nothing to worrry about eh?'

Next fatal crash, and guess the outcome..................... :yuk:

Jonathan Djanogly participates in the Parliamentary Armed Forces affiliation scheme (or whatever it's called); he has regularly flown with the RAF, recently the Nimrod and Tornado. He supported the last EDM and I've just winged a message off to him requesting he supports the latest.

Happy new year to all Pruners, especially to you Brian.

FJJP

Thanks everyone for your support. It means so much to those involved in the campaign.

My best, as always.
Brian

"Justice has no expiry date" - John Cook

Have already had a reply from my MP thanking me for bringing the matter to his attention and indicating that he will look at it carefully and is inclined to sign the EDM.

Mr Robert Walter (CON, North Dorset) has been e mailed. He agreed to sign the last one so I am hopeful that he will again.

Mr Robert Jackson (Con, Wantage) has been emailed. His name didn't appear on the last EDM, but maybe as he's about to retire...

I am pleased to report an immediate response from Robert Walter telling me that he has signed EDM 371. His name is not on the website list yet but I guess that it has not been updated yet.

Now he has a new leader I might even vote for him next time.

Currently up to 42 signatures.

Thank you everyone. Keep 'em coming!!

Regards, as always.
Brian

"Justice has no expiry date" - John Cook

Just heard back from my MP Timothy Loughton (West Worthing) that he has signed the EDM. Asked yesterday, heard back today.

Have just emailed my MP, Nick Palmer (Lab,Broxtowe) urging him to sign the EDM

Had an acknowledgement from Jonathan Djanogly's office today. I await further developments...

Gentlemen, you are not going to clear the pilots’ names without addressing the navigation issue:
They were in control past the waypoint given for a turn by a navigation system; they could only reasonable have continued on if they had sufficient visual detail of the Mull to judge their distance off OR they were using another type of navaid for a closer in turning point.
Some of you would know pilots who had done this run – and could ask them what was the practice at the time; surely it is time to find the personal courage to come forward, whatever the official directives and sanctions, and get a proper objective investigation started?
Justice goes further than clearing the pilots’ names – for the safety of services personnel in the future and the security of our nation it is very, very important that any possibility of sabotage in this incident be investigated. (Let me put it this way, the nation’s top anti terrorist team gets wiped out and sabotage is ruled out very early on! Years later, is there anything other than blaming it on pilot error to justify this?)

What chance of Hoon remaining?
 

Blair fails to back Hoon over soldier shot in Iraq
By George Jones, Political Editor
(Filed: 16/01/2004)
Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, was last night under mounting pressure to resign over a soldier killed in Iraq after being ordered to hand back his body armour.
The Tories called for Mr Hoon to go and Tony Blair failed to back him publicly.
Sgt Steve Roberts, 33, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, was shot dead by Iraqi dissidents last March. He had been told to give his flak jacket to other troops.
His widow, Samantha, of Bradford, has already called on Mr Hoon to resign. She published her husband's audio diaries describing the demoralisation of British troops in Iraq. Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, said Mr Hoon should "do the honourable thing" by accepting responsibility and quit.
"I do not think there is any greater dereliction of duty for any Government than to send men into battle without the proper equipment.
"We know that the probability is that Sgt Roberts would not have been killed if he had had body armour."
The Prime Minister said an investigation into Sgt Roberts's death had started but he stopped short of supporting Mr Hoon.
Asked at his monthly press conference whether Mr Hoon should resign, he said he understood Mrs Roberts's concerns but insisted that the "only proper thing to do" was to await the outcome of a "thorough" inquiry.
Asked whether there was not already enough evidence to apologise to Mrs Roberts, Mr Blair said it was for the inquiry to apportion blame.
He said he did not want to prejudge the issue and would wait until the inquiry report was in.
Nicholas Soames, the Conservative defence spokesman, said Mr Blair's failure to back his Defence Secretary was remarkable.
"If Sgt Roberts had been equipped with the correct body armour, he would not have died," he said.
"It was the direct responsibility of the Ministry of Defence to ensure that our troops were properly equipped. There were sufficient amounts of equipment available but much of it never reached the front line."
The inquiry into the circumstances of Sgt Roberts's death is being carried out by the Royal Military Police special investigation branch.
Mr Hoon told the Commons this week that once the investigation had been concluded, an Army board of inquiry would be convened.
He said that 38,000 sets of enhanced body armour were sent to the Gulf and they should have been sufficient to equip all who needed it. But not all of the equipment reached every unit before the start of combat operations.
Mrs Roberts has been provided, in confidence, with a summary of the attack in which her husband died, as well as a ballistics report.
Blair fails to back Hoon

Walter says ;1 We have no evidence that they were in control

2 No navaid would have allowed them to continue in IMC below SALT, so it is unlikely that they were IMC.

The point is, the evidence required to find negligence simply does not exist, in the same way that there is no evidence to prove the opposite.

No evidence = No Known Cause = cleared pilots.