Crew in RAF helicopter crash ‘lacked experience’

An INEXPERIENCED crew and lack of supervision contributed to a fatal military helicopter crash which killed the pilot and two others, MPs were told.

A service inquiry into the incident in August 2007 concluded that an “incorrectly executed manoeuvre” caused the Puma to crash in a field at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.

Last month the aircraft’s co-pilot, ex-Flight Lieutenant Robert Hamilton, 29, who was left paraplegic by the incident, was given a suspended prison sentence at a court martial.

The pilot, Flight Lieutenant David Sale, 28, from Norton, near Stockton, Teesside, died along with 17-year-old army recruit Private Sean Tait, from Glasgow, who was serving with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and crewman Sergeant Phillip Burfoot, 27, from Cardiff.

Hamilton pleaded guilty to neglect in flying likely to cause loss of life or bodily injury and was given a 16-month sentence, suspended for two years.

The £20 million Puma from 33 Squadron RAF Benson was carrying 12 personnel: including eight recruits.

In a statement to parliament yesterday, Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey said the helicopter “failed to recover from a tight turn” and crashed.

The tail was severed, the fuselage rotated and flipped “several times” and the helicopter came to rest “having broken up considerably”.

Mr Harvey said: “Following extensive investigation, contributory factors that led to the incident included the crew’s combined relative inexperience, the lack of robust crew supervision, human factors, manning shortfalls, the high operational task load placed upon 33 Squadron and the reduced opportunity, because of this task load, for supervised consolidation and reinforcement training.”