Key facts
- A legal challenge against the Ministry of Defence over the 1994 RAF Chinook helicopter crash has been dismissed by the High Court.
- The Chinook Justice Campaign, representing families of victims, sought an independent investigation into the crash.
- The campaign argued that concerns about the helicopter's airworthiness were not adequately investigated.
- The Ministry of Defence contended that the claim was brought too late and that human rights were not breached.
- Twenty-nine military personnel died when the Chinook HC-2 helicopter crashed into the Mull of Kintyre on June 2, 1994.
A legal challenge brought by the Chinook Justice Campaign (CJC), representing over 55 family members of 25 victims, has been dismissed by the High Court. The campaign sought to challenge the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) alleged ongoing failure to establish an independent and effective investigation into the 1994 RAF Chinook helicopter crash that killed 29 military personnel.
Lawyers for the CJC argued that information regarding the aircraft's airworthiness raised a "more than arguable claim" that those who died were placed on an unsafe aircraft. They highlighted that the helicopter had undergone a "fraught upgrade and introduction" just two days before the crash and that the MOD was suing Boeing over this upgrade. Concerns were raised about a safety-critical engine control system described as having a "density of deficiencies," and the helicopter had reportedly needed engine replacements multiple times prior to the incident.
The MOD, however, defended the legal bid, with its barristers arguing that the claim had been brought too late and that no human rights had been breached. They stated that the crash had already been the subject of "extensive investigations" and that the CJC had not presented new information capable of reviving any investigative obligation.
The Chinook HC-2 helicopter crashed into the Mull of Kintyre on June 2, 1994, while transporting 25 intelligence experts and four special forces crew. An initial 1995 Board of Inquiry blamed pilot error, but this finding was overturned following a 2011 review, though the cause of the crash was not definitively determined. Relatives of the victims have expressed a desire for "candour from the MOD" regarding the circumstances of the disaster.