Nimrod fleet 'not airworthy and should be grounded'
Coroner presiding over inquest into deaths of 14 UK servicemen says Nimrod plane they died in has "never been airworthy"
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Friday, 23, May 2008 07:24
A coroner presiding over the inquest into the death of 14 UK servicemen has said the Nimrod plane they died in has "never been airworthy".
The RAF and army personnel were killed above Afghanistan in September 2006 when their spy plane crashed.
Andrew Walker, assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire, delivering his verdict into their deaths – which amounted to the heaviest loss of for the armed forces in a single incident since the Falklands war – is calling for the entire fleet to be grounded.
But the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is under no obligation to comply.
Armed forces minister Bob Ainsworth said the chief of the air staff had reaffirmed to him that the Nimrod was airworthy and would not be grounded.
"I have noted the coroner's comments and I will consider them carefully," he continued.
"The Nimrod is saving lives in operational theatres every day. However, if it was not safe we would not be flying it; it is safe with the measures we have taken and that is why we will not be grounding the fleet."
Air Marshal Sir Barry Thornton, the RAF's senior engineer, added that air-to-air refuelling of Nimrods had already been halted.
"This eradicates any dangers from the serious design failures noted by the coroner that have been present in this aircraft since the 1980s," Sir Barry insisted.
"In addition, to ensure we can operate the aircraft safely until its planned retirement from service, we have in place an effective package of more permanent measures which are being progressed as quickly as practicable."
"The crew and passengers were not to know that this aircraft, like every other in the Nimrod fleet, was not airworthy. The aircraft was never airworthy from the first release to service in 1969," he said in court.
The Nimrod in question crashed after undergoing air-to-air refuelling near Kandahar in September 2006.
An RAF Board of Inquiry (BoI) into the crash has already declared the ageing components and lack of fire suppressants onboard were among the "contributory factors" which led to the accident.
The BoI report also claimed that fuel probably escaped during the refuelling and later caught fire.
The men killed when the plane exploded mid-air were Flight Lieutenant Steven Johnson, Flt Lt Leigh Anthony Mitchelmore, Flt Lt Gareth Rodney Nicholas, Flt Lt Allan James Squires, Flt Lt Steven Swarbrick, Flight Sergeant Gary Wayne Andrews, Flt Sgt Stephen Beattie, Flt Sgt Gerard Martin Bell and Flt Sgt Adrian Davies, Sgt Benjamin James Knight, Sgt John Joseph Langton and Sgt Gary Paul Quilliam.
Lance Corporal Oliver Simon Dicketts, from the Parachute Regiment, and Royal Marine Joseph David Windall also died in the crash.