Puma helicopter crash: Tributes to RAF crew
- 00:01:39
- ITN
Puma helicopter crash: Tributes to RAF crew
An RAF pilot who crashed a Puma helicopter killing himself and two passengers was not skilled enough to carry out the low-flying manoeuvre he was attempting, a coroner has ruled. Delivering his verdict at Harrogate Magistrates Court, Geoff Fell said: "Against a background of deteriorating administration, airmanship and discipline, the helicopter crashed." Flight Lieutenant David Sale, Sergeant Phillip Burfoot and Private Sean Tait died in the crash near Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, in August 2007. Before recording narrative verdicts into the deaths of all three men, Mr Fell said the administration at RAF Benson, in Oxfordshire, where the RAF crew was based, "left much to be desired". He went on to say the crew members were "inexperienced" on the day of the crash and were undertaking their first trip without an instructor watching them. Mr Fell added that nobody seemed to have laid out the ground rules to the crew and Flt Lt Sale missed an opportunity to remind himself of what he was authorised to do during the flight.
ITN | October 26, 2009
