Learn lessons from helicopter tragedy
Family's plea after narrative verdict returned on Burghfield soldier's death
THE family of an experienced serviceman from Burghfield killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan hope that lessons will be learned following his death.
Warrant officer class 2 Spencer Faulkner and four other servicemen died when their Lynx mk 9A crashed after dropping 25ft in half a second while on a routine flight in Kandahar province on April 27, 2014.
An inquest held at Oxford Coroner’s Court heard how WO Faulkner was flying his last operation before retiring on his forthcoming 40th birthday, after 22 years of service.
He left behind his wife Cally, daughter Natasha and son Jack, who now live in Hungerford.
Coroner Darren Salter recommended that the Ministry of Defence reviews manning levels and the impact this has on personnel, as he delivered a narrative verdict on Tuesday.
He also recommended that flight data recorders should be placed in newer aircraft, after concerns were raised that a safety alarm had not sounded as the helicopter plummeted.
The inquest heard from former squadron training officer Major Kevin Anderson, that the squadron was undermanned at the time of the fatal crash.
He said that WO Faulkner had been on active service without familiarisation training and also raised concerns over the shortage of desert flying time conducted by pilot Captain Thomas Clarke.
But Major Anderson added that the documentation “doesn’t reflect the quality of the pilot”.
In a statement after the inquest, Mrs Faulkner said: “We just wanted answers about what happened and what went wrong to cause the crash.
“It has been very difficult hearing evidence, but we are thankful to the coroner for investigating the events of that tragic day.
“Nothing can ever bring Spencer back to us, but we hope that lessons will be learned from this incident to reduce the risk of similar accidents in future.
“Throughout this inquest I and the other families have heard all the witnesses speak about the true professionalism of each of the men killed in this incident.
“Spencer was always committed to doing his very best for the Armed Forces, but he was also a family man who was loved by everyone.”
Representing the Faulkners, Andrew Buckham said that Mrs Faulkner supported all of the coroner’s recommendations.
He said: “We know some things have changed already, but obviously we want to see as much change as possible to ensure that accidents like this don’t happen again.
“Our service personnel are under a lot of stresses and strains, and we expect them to do a fantastic job, but to do that they must be given the right tools, the right procedures and the right equipment to do that.”
A service inquiry published last year said that the pilot may have been attempting to simulate weightlessness moments before the impact.
However, the families of the dead servicemen denied that they would have attempted the stunt.
An MoD spokesman said: “This incident was subject to a thorough service inquiry and steps have since been taken to minimise the risk of it happening again.
“We will now study the coroner’s findings carefully to identify any further lessons that may be learnt.”