Letter: Chinook issues

How prescient that Her Majesty enrolled Lord Philip to the ancient prestigious chivalrous Order of the Garter.

Lord Philip was entrusted by Dr Liam Fox as Secretary of State for Defence to chair a public inquiry into the Kintyre Chinook helicopter disaster, something at least three of his Labour predecessors, including the now Lord John Reid, twice - when a lower ranked minister of state - refused.

Seventeen years have passed for the families of the experienced pilots to endure the shame of the verdicts handed down by two chairing air marshals at the internal inquiry.

These presiding judges were not content with negligence verdicts, but to highlight the pilots' culpability, gratuitously added the shameful word "gross".

Only these air marshals, if surviving, know why the pilots' questioning of the aircrafts' airworthiness was not introduced at the inquiry. Both Sir John Major and Sir Malcolm Rifkind will share in the families' relief, both having subsequently questioned the verdicts and wished for a public enquiry. What exceptional patience has been shown by the pilots' families.

EJ Hart

Chapelacre Grove

Helensburgh