GRIEVING relatives of victims and survivors of the Clutha disaster are now pinning their hopes on a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) giving them answers after they say they feel let down by the long-awaited air investigation report.
After almost two years, the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) finally published its findings yesterday – but it has left them with more questions than answers. However, within minutes of the report being released the Crown Office revealed a full public inquiry would be launched “as quickly as possible” because “the families deserve answers” into how 10 people were killed and 32 injured on November 29, 2013 in the Glasgow bar.
A Crown Office spokesman said: “We welcome the publication of the AAIB report into the Clutha tragedy. However, the report raises a number of questions for which the families of the victims deserve answers.
“An FAI will allow a full public airing of all the evidence at which families and other interested parties will be represented.
“It is right that the evidence can be vigorously tested in a public setting and be the subject of judicial determination.”
The helicopter crew who were killed were pilot David Traill, PC Tony Collins and PC Kirsty Nelis.
Seven customers in the Clutha died. They were John McGarrigle, Mark O’Prey, Gary Arthur, Colin Gibson, Robert Jenkins, Samuel McGhee and Joe Cusker.
It has emerged in the report that the pilot did not follow emergency protocol and flew on despite low fuel warnings.
It said fuel transfer pumps were turned off and a “successful auto-rotation” emergency landing was not achieved for “unknown reasons”.
The report also recommends that all police helicopters, military and medical emergency aircraft be fitted with black box flight recording equipment.
The AAIB report said: “The investigation could not could not establish why a pilot with over 5,000 hours flying experience in military and civil helicopters did not complete the actions detailed in the Checklist Emergency and Malfunctions Procedures for low fuel warnings.”
AAIB chief inspector Keith Conradi said: “We do not apportion blame in our reports.
“We have made a series of safety recommendations in this final report including that European and British civil aviation regulators require all police and medical helicopters to carry flight recording equipment.”
John McGarrigle, whose father, well-known Glasgow poet John McGarrigle Snr, was among those killed that night, said he was “absolutely delighted” when The National broke the news to him about the FAI.
He said the horror image of his dad lying alive under the helicopter for hours will haunt him for the rest of his life and he hopes that an FAI will tell him why nothing was done to free him before he passed away.
John Jnr, 40, an artist, said: “I am absolutely delighted there is going to be an FAI because that will maybe shed some light on what happened here and why my dad lay under that helicopter for three days before his body was released.
“Hopefully, they will be as quick as they were getting the FAI for the bin lorry crash up and running.
“An FAI should give me answers as to why my father was left under that helicopter alive and according to the post mortem report he was alive for over 17 hours after the crash.
“I believe my dad could have been saved and I want to know why he wasn’t freed while he was still alive.
“The thought of my dad lying alive under the helicopter and no-one bothered to try and save him is just horrifying and I deserve to know why.
“I walked up and down outside that pub for days begging to get in to see my dad but was refused. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.” He said the detail of the AAIB had left him with so many unanswered questions and wants all passenger-carrying aircraft to be fitted with flight data recording boxes.
Crash survivor Calum Grierson, 60, from Hamilton, Lanarkshire, is lucky to be alive after the helicopter plunged into the roof killing his friend Joe Cusker, 59, who died 13 days later in hospital. He also welcomed the FAI but said the last thing he wanted was to apportion blame for the crash.
Calum said: “I have been hoping upon hope that no-one was to blame and it was a terrible accident and still hope that.
“I welcome news that there will be an FAI because there are still so many questions that remain unanswered and we hope it will be sooner rather than later. Relatives have already waited nearly two years for the report.”
Police Scotland Deputy Chief Constable Iain Livingstone described the AAIB report as a “significant milestone” and the findings will be considered by their investigation team and the Crown.
Helicopter operator Bond said the report was an “important step” in the process of understanding the “terrible events” of that night, although “some questions remain unanswered”.
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