Darlington woman continues calls for public inquiry into Chinook crash
It's 32 years today since the RAF Chinook crash at the Mull of Kintyre
A Darlington woman says it's been a challenging time finding out answers to her dad's death 32 years on since the Chinook disaster.
29 people lost their lives in the RAF helicopter crash which happened on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994.
Their families have been calling for a full public inquiry and for all the files – some of which have been sealed for 100 years – to be released.
One of those killed was 34 year-old Major Gary Sparks.
His daughter, Esme, said: "We are still looking today for what the circumstances were leading up to the crash taking place. I was only seven when it happened and there was a long period of time where I just accepted that I'd lost my father.
"It's always difficult to lose somebody, but when it's 32 years later and myself and the 28 other families still don't have those answers as to why or how my dad and the others were taken from us.
"It was only when the documentary came out in early 2024 that a lot of this came to light, that there were documents that had been sealed for 100 years, that the helicopter that they were placed on was positively dangerous. And from there, that's kind of stirred up a lot of emotion.
"It's been a challenging time, but as a Chinook Justice Campaign group, we're completely determined. We're not going to stop fighting. We need the truth. It's being withheld from us by the MOD, by the Government, and we're determined that this campaign will keep going until we get the answers that we need.
"I'm totally convinced that eventually we will get the answers that we need. And this isn't just about our campaign group, this is about the Government standing up to the duty of candour and being honest and being truthful and being transparent. And that's all we're asking for as a group is that we are taken seriously.
"Had my father and the other 28 others on board known that was a positively dangerous aircraft, they never would have boarded. The truth was held from them then and the truth is being held from the families now. The pilots initially were blamed and they were cleared by their families in 2011. So since then, you know, we're still on that journey towards fighting for the truth.
"As a campaign group, we continue to meet regularly. We are constantly pushing forward. We would ask for Sir Keir Starmer to uphold his promise, which was to meet with the families. We haven't got a date in the pipeline for that yet, but it would be fantastic to have some confirmation of that as soon as possible.
"We've got all of this evidence, we've got files that prove that this was a dangerous aircraft, that prove that these men and one woman should never have been on board. There's a cover-up somewhere and we want to know who's accountable for that and why those people were placed on that aircraft that day."
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: "Our thoughts and sympathies remain with the families, friends, and colleagues of all those who died in the Mull of Kintyre crash.
“The MOD continues to engage with the Chinook Justice Campaign (CJC) throughout this process. Defence Ministers have met with Campaign representatives to listen to their concerns, and the CJC also met with the Ministry of Justice Victims Minister in March 2026.
"The CJC submitted a formal claim for Judicial Review in September 2025, and the MOD is focused on responding fully to that claim and to the allegations it contains. We will not be offering comment on issues that are being considered as part of that independent process.”
Calls for a fresh review into the crash
Former Defence Secretary Sir Liam Fox and senior members of the official review which cleared the RAF Chinook pilots blamed for the Mull of Kintyre disaster have warned the Prime Minister that they may have been misled by the Ministry of Defence and have today called for a fresh review into the crash.
In a major intervention on the 32nd anniversary of the tragedy, Sir Liam says evidence which has emerged since the Mull of Kintyre Review raises “deep concerns” that “vital information may have been withheld from ministers and parliament” and that information provided by the MOD “on the airworthiness of the aircraft was not correct.”
Sir Liam commissioned the Mull of Kintyre Review in 2010 following years of criticism over the decision to blame pilots Flight Lieutenants Rick Cook and Jonathan Tapper for the crash.
That review, led by former Scottish judge Lord Philip alongside Privy Counsellors Lord Forsyth, Baroness Liddell and Lord Bruce, concluded that the finding of gross negligence against the pilots was no longer sustainable and the verdict was overturned.
However, in his letter to the Prime Minister, Sir Liam warns that evidence now available suggests the Chinook Mk2 helicopter involved in the crash was known by the MoD to be unairworthy and that key information may not have been disclosed to ministers, parliament or previous investigations.
He writes: “On the evidence that was available we believed that the exact cause of the crash could not be established and that the decisions within the MoD, and the RAF in particular, were correct and that no cover up had taken place.
“As more evidence has come to light, we have had increasing concerns that these statements may not be true and that vital information may have been withheld from ministers and parliament."
The Campaign group said countless official documents have been uncovered – many of them by the late David Hill, who was technical expert to the Chinook Justice Campaign and a former MOD aeronautical engineer – which prove that the aircraft was not fit to fly. The papers were recently provided to Sir Liam and others.
Sir Liam reveals that a member of the original Philip’s Review team explained to him recently that: “The inquiry you asked us to carry out was very much focused on the issue of whether the accident was caused by pilot negligence and of course we concluded that the test for that was not met and we exonerated the pilots. We are very concerned to read this material which suggests that the information provided to us on the airworthiness of the aircraft was not correct.”
The letter, delivered to Sir Keir Starmer, states that MoD test engineers had described the Chinook Mk2’s FADEC software as “positively dangerous” and that the aircraft itself had been classed as “not to be relied upon in any way whatsoever” days before the crash.
Sir Liam warns that previous inquiries focused too narrowly on allegations of pilot negligence while failing to examine “the fundamental question of why a known-unairworthy aircraft was permitted to fly” and that the Chinook’s release to service “falsely declared the aircraft airworthy.”
His intervention follows the recent release of internal Ministry of Defence documents under Freedom of Information laws which campaigners say show senior RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir William Wratten attempting to “close down”discussion of airworthiness concerns and alternative explanations for the crash.
Wratten, along with colleague Air Chief Marshal Sir John Day, blamed the pilots despite evidence to the contrary.
Families of those killed, who attended a commemoration in Belfast at the weekend, have described Sir Liam’s intervention as a turning point in the campaign for the truth.