Computer Software Faults May Have Caused Chinook Helicopter Crash

Event Year: 1994 Reliability: Confirmed
Country: United Kingdom
Industry Type: Transportation
Description:

The Chinook Mark 2 helicopter crashed on June 2, 1994 killing all 29 people on board.  Initially, the pilots were blamed for the incident.  Later, it was concluded that the exact cause of the accident was impossible to establish.  The BBC received internal Ministry of Defense (MoD) documents written nine months before the crash that describe the Chinook engine control computer software as “positively dangerous”.  The report was written by a senior engineering officer at the MoD Aircraft Testing Center at Boscombe Down.  The pre-crash report stated that a hazard analysis identified the engine software as “safety critical”  and stated that “any malfunctions or deisgn errors could have catastrophic effects”.  In addition, “21 category one and 153 category two anomalies have been revealed.  One of these

Impact:

The Chinook Helicopter crashed killing all 29 people on board.  New evidence casts doubt on the airworthiness of the helicpoter.  A report prepared nine months before the crash indicated there may be problems with the engine control computer software.