Clutha helicopter crash pilot failed to follow emergency low fuel warnings, inquiry finds
Video report by ITV News Correspondent John Ray
A helicopter crash which killed 10 people could have been prevented if the pilot had followed emergency procedures relating to low fuel warnings, an inquiry has found.
Three crew members and seven customers died when a police aircraft fell onto the Clutha bar in Glasgow on November 29, 2013.
A further 31 people in the pub were injured.
The crash happened after the helicopter's engines "flamed out sequentially" while the helicopter was airborne because of fuel starvation.
The contents of the supply tank had depleted because pilot David Traill failed to ensure at least one of the helicopter's fuel transfer pumps was switched to on, a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) concluded.
Sheriff Principal Craig Turnbull's report found the pilot "consciously took a risk" by ignoring the low fuel warnings, which had "fatal consequences."
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The inquiry, published on Wednesday, stated: "Captain Traill allowed the contents of the supply tank of the helicopter to deplete to the point it did when there was more than sufficient usable fuel available to him in the main tank to allow the helicopter to return safely to its base."
The report found both the fuel transfer pump switches were in the off position when the low fuel warnings were triggered.
It said that had one or both of them been switched back on by Captain Traill at that point in time the helicopter would not have crashed, however they were not switched back on.
Sheriff Principal Craig Turnbull found there was enough time between the first and second engine flame-outs for Captain Traill to have switched on the fuel transfer pumps.
"Captain Traill consciously took a risk in proceeding on the basis that the low fuel warnings were in some way erroneous (when they were not)," Sheriff Turnball said.
"That decision had fatal consequences."
Sheriff Turnball found the accident might have been avoided if the pilot had followed the procedure set down in the Pilot's Checklist, but he found no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Captain Traill deliberately caused the helicopter to crash.
However he found the quantities of fuel displayed on the fuel quantity indication system of the helicopter contradicted the low fuel warnings.
He wrote: "That being the case, having regard to the foregoing matters, I can but conclude that it is more likely than not that the quantities of fuel displayed on the fuel quantity indication system of G-SPAO contradicted the low fuel warnings, in a manner that persuaded Captain Traill that it was safe to continue flying."
More than 100 people were at the pub when the helicopter crashed as it was returning to its base on the banks of the River Clyde.
One eyewitness who gave evidence at the FAI told how the helicopter made a "spluttering noise" before it fell from the sky while another said it sounded like a car stalling.
An Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) report published in 2015 found two fuel supply switches were off and the pilot did not follow emergency procedures after a fuel warning in the cockpit.
The crew members who were killed in the helicopter were pilot David Traill, 51, Pc Tony Collins, 43, and Pc Kirsty Nelis, 36.
The seven customers were Gary Arthur, 48; Joe Cusker, 59; Colin Gibson, 33; Robert Jenkins, 61; John McGarrigle, 58; Samuel McGhee, 56; and Mark O’Prey, 44.