Board of Inquiry published into loss of Nimrod XV230

Posted on: Dec. 4th, 2007 || Source: raf.mod.uk | E-mail Article | Print Article

The MOD has today published the report of the Board of Inquiry into the tragic loss of Nimrod XV230 in which 14 servicemen lost their lives on 2 September 2006.

The 14 Servicemen who lost their lives were:

Top Row: Left to Right:

Flt Lt Steven Johnson
Flt Lt Leigh Anthony Mitchelmore
Flt Lt Gareth Rodney Nicholas
Flt Lt Allan James Squires
Flt Lt Steven Swarbrick
FS Gary Wayne Andrews
FS Stephen Beattie

Bottom Row: Left to Right:

FS Gerard Martin Bell
FS Adrian Davies
Sgt Benjamin James Knight
Sgt John Joseph Langton
Sgt Gary Paul Quilliam
Cpl Oliver Simon Dicketts, Parachute Regiment
Mne Joseph David Windall, Royal Marines

Des Browne, the Secretary of State for Defence said: "I pay tribute to the fourteen Service personnel who lost their lives in this tragic incident. My thoughts are with their families and friends and, indeed, the men and women of the Armed Forces who I know feel the loss of their colleagues very deeply.

"The Board of Inquiry established the most probable cause of the fire and subsequent loss of XV230 and in doing so identified failings for which the Ministry of Defence must take responsibility. On behalf of the MOD and the Royal Air Force, I would like to apologise to the House of Commons, and most of all to those who lost their lives, and to their families. I am sorry.

"My Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that a similar accident cannot occur again. We are learning the lessons from the accident and have already implemented many of the recommendations of the BOI report.

"On the basis of these actions, the Chief of the Air Staff’s professional judgment is that the Nimrod fleet is safe to fly. I have accepted his advice. I have, however, decided to put in place a review of the arrangements for assuring the airworthiness and safe operation of the Nimrod MR2. This review will be led by a senior Queen’s Counsel, assisted by technical experts on aviation systems, and will examine all relevant papers, and interview all those in a position to assist including BAE Systems and Qinetiq.”

Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, Chief of the Air Staff said: "The 14 brave Service personnel who died in this tragic accident behaved in an exemplary manner during the tragic events of 2 September last year.

"The Board stated that the crew of Nimrod XV230 were faced with a series of complex and demanding emergencies and acted throughout with calm professionalism, and did everything possible to save their aircraft. Their families, friends and colleagues should be very proud of them all.

"Action has been taken to prevent the reoccurrence of this accident and I would like to reassure our service personnel and the public that this aircraft is still safe to fly. I would like to thank the BOI team publicly for their thorough and very detailed report. The nature of the crash made this a particularly difficult investigation.”

Due to incomplete evidence arising from the nature of the crash and its hostile location, the Board was not able to identify with absolute certainty the cause of the fire on Nimrod XV230.

The BOI has put forward the most likely scenario for the fire and the events and factors which led to the loss of the aircraft. The fire most likely resulted from escaped fuel igniting against a hot pipe in a compartment near the wing-fuselage attachment – the No 7 tank dry bay.

The fuel probably gained access to the pipe through a gap between two types of insulation. The fuel most likely escaped from one of two possible sources: the action of a pressure-relief device in the main fuel tank, which led to an overflow of fuel during Air to Air Refuelling, or a leaking fuel coupling.

Immediately following the loss of XV230 a number of measures were taken by the RAF to ensure that a similar scenario did not occur again. These include: turning off all possible ignition sources wherever possible, including the hot air pipe; a fleet-wide examination of areas where flammable materials such as fuel or hydraulic fluid may be placed in relative proximity to potential sources of ignition should a leak occur; and increasing inspections of the area to detect any faults at as early a stage as possible; during this process no evidence of any fleet-wide problems was identified.

The Board made 33 recommendations to ensure safety measures are formally incorporated within Nimrod procedures. The vast majority of these have already been implemented to ensure the safety of the Nimrod fleet and its crews.

The loss of 14 courageous Servicemen from all 3 Services is a tragedy, for the families and for their comrades throughout the United Kingdom. The Ministry of Defence takes seriously the duty of care it owes to its Servicemen and women, and will consider the lessons to be learned from the sad loss of this aircraft and its crew.

The MOD has published some additional briefing material which attempts to explain the BOI's findings in simpler language. This material does not overwrite or replace the the BOI report:

Timeline of events and reconstruction of events leading to the crash of Nimrod XV230 on 02 September 2006.

Actions Taken to Reduce Risk to Nimrod Operations.

Overview of the Board’s findings and summary of recommendations and actions.

Possible Contributing Factors to the Loss of Nimrod XV230.

The RAF convenes a Board of Inquiry following the loss of any of its aircraft to establish the circumstances of the loss and learn lessons to ensure, if at all possible, that such a loss does not occur again. The Board of Inquiry consisted of 2 aircrew each with over 20 years’ experience of Nimrod operations and an engineer with 33 years’ of aircraft engineering experience.

The Department of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Board conducted a parallel investigation and was involved from the earliest stages. Technical experts from other government departments and independent scientific and technical companies were also consulted.
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