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Nimrod safety changes incomplete Nimrod safety changes incomplete
(about 2 hours later)
Safety recommendations made after 14 servicemen died when a Nimrod aircraft crashed in Afghanistan have not been fully implemented, the MoD has said.Safety recommendations made after 14 servicemen died when a Nimrod aircraft crashed in Afghanistan have not been fully implemented, the MoD has said.
Thirty recommendations were made after the 2006 crash. Inquests into the 14 deaths are currently taking place. Thirty recommendations were made after the 2006 crash.
Defence secretary Des Browne said 21 of the 30 were being implemented and three considered, while six were "on hold". The government said 21 were being implemented, three considered and six put "on hold", which the Nimrod base's local MP called "unacceptable".
But Westminster SNP leader Angus Robertson said it was "unacceptable" they had not all been fully introduced. The inquest into the 14 deaths has heard that the plane that crashed had a serious design flaw.
Mr Robertson, who represents the Nimrod home base of RAF Kinloss, said under the MoD's own rules, for an aircraft to be considered safe, any risk must be reduced to a level that is as low as reasonably practical. Westminster SNP leader Angus Robertson, who represents the Nimrod home base of RAF Kinloss, said under the MoD's own rules, for an aircraft to be considered safe, any risk must be reduced to a level that is as low as reasonably practical.
But he said the announcement by Mr Browne, which he made in a letter to the Moray MP, showed this had not happened. But he said the announcement about the safety recommendations by Defence Secretary Des Browne, which he made in a letter to the Moray MP, showed this had not happened.
The MoD said the report and recommendations were part of a more comprehensive safety review of the Nimrod air system, which was continuing. The MoD said the report and recommendations, made by defence firm Qinetiq, were part of a more comprehensive safety review that was continuing into the Nimrod air system.
'Serious failure'
Meanwhile a senior engineer from defence and aerospace firm BAE Systems has told the inquest that his predecessors, who made the Nimrod some 40 years ago, failed to fit a fire protection system on a key area of risk on the aircraft.
The 37-year-old reconnaissance plane exploded just minutes after undergoing air-to-air refuelling in Afghanistan on 2 September 2006, killing all on board.
An RAF Board of Inquiry (BoI) report into the incident concluded that ageing components and a lack of modern fire suppressants were among the "contributory factors" leading to the accident.
The secretary of state has assured MPs that Nimrods are safe, however as he makes clear in his letter not all the necessary changes have been made Angus Roberston MP
It said fuel probably escaped during air-to-air refuelling into a bay on the aircraft either because of a leaking fuel coupling or an overflowing fuel tank.
The hearing in Oxford was told on Tuesday that a section of hot air pipe in one of its dry bays was not lagged to protect it from igniting fuel in the event of a leak from a fuel pipe below it.
Coroner Andrew Walker said: "What we have here amounts to a serious design flaw, because we could have a single point failure (where just one fault could cause a serious problem)."
BAE's chief Nimrod engineer Martin Breakell agreed, although he stressed that this scenario would be very unlikely.
When asked by the coroner whether he considered the lack of fire suppressant in the dry bay to be a serious failure, he confirmed: "It is a serious failure."
'Unsettling'
Following the crash all air-to-air refuelling on the Nimrod fleet was suspended and that suspension remains in force.
In Mr Browne's letter to Mr Robertson, he said that six of the 30 Qinetiq recommendations were "on hold" because they related to air-to-air refuelling.
The Moray MP said: "It is very unsettling that not all safety recommendations have been complied with fully on the Nimrod fleet.
"The secretary of state has assured MPs that Nimrods are safe, however as he makes clear in his letter not all the necessary changes have been made.
"It must be concluded from Des Browne's letter that current risks to the Nimrod aircraft are not 'as low as is reasonably practicable', and this is not acceptable."
The inquest was adjourned until Wednesday.