'Dangerous' software may have caused 1994 Chinook crash

The Chinook Mk2 is "remarkably safe", according to the MoD

Faulty computer software is likely to have caused the Chinook helicopter crash that killed 29 military and intelligence crew 16 years ago.

The software was "positively dangerous", according to a Ministry of Defence (MoD) document written before the crash, which has now been seen by the BBC.

Reports claim that the document referred to an MoD aircraft testing centre which had said that problems with the helicopter's engine control software may have left pilots unable to control the craft.

Another document, also seen by the BBC, stated that it was "imperative" that the Royal Air Force (RAF) did not operate the helicopter.

The MoD has responded to the emerging reports, arguing that the testing centre documents were taken into account at the time of the inquiry and cannot be classed as new evidence.

Until now the RAF has blamed two pilots for the crash and, according to the MoD's latest statement, the blame will continue to lie with them.

RAF officers said that the pilots were flying too fast and low in the thick fog en route from Northern Ireland to Inverness.

For the past couple of years campaigners have been urging the MoD to review the evidence, insisting that the pilots were not guilty of gross negligence but that the helicopter crashed because of mechanical faults.

"Our thoughts remain with the families of those who tragically lost their lives when ZD576 crashed in poor visibility on the Mull of Kintyre in June 1994, " said an MoD spokeswoman.

"Since this tragic incident, the Chinook Mk2 has had a remarkably safe and successful service history, often under the most trying operational conditions, with no history of any incidents that would call the aircraft's airworthiness into question.

"This latest information is from an RAF document; it was available to the Inquiry team and is not new evidence. Despite numerous representations over the years, nothing has been presented to successive secretaries of state that would justify reopening the Inquiry."