SATURDAY OCTOBER 28 2000 BY SHIRLEY ENGLISH AND MICHAEL EVANS THE crew of a B#57 million Royal Navy helicopter were rescued yesterday after it crashed into the sea, the latest in a line of problems to beset the new Merlin aircraft. It was the first loss of a Merlin, which came into service last year after a controversial development programme dogged by delay and cost overruns. Two prototypes crashed during the development phase and a third landed so heavily that it took three years to Bpatch it upB before it could be flown again.

The five-strong crew were plucked to safety by passing fishermen after scrambling from the aircraft as it started to sink in the Inner Sound, between the village of Plockton, Wester Ross, and the island of Raasay, near Skye.

They had been carrying out underwater sonar tests for about 30 minutes and were hovering 100ft above the water when the aircraft suffered Bsome sort of failureB and ditched into the sea at around 10am, a Royal Navy spokesman said. It immediately flipped over and was floating upside down as the crew, from 700 Squadron, Culdrose in Cornwall, made their escape.

Kenny Livingstone, 47, and his brother Donald, 45, two fishermen from Shieldaig, Wester Ross, were on their way to lift their prawn and lobster creels at the time.

Their 30ft boat Fram III was about three miles away as the aircraft went down but they managed to reach the crash scene in around 10 minutes. Kenny Livingstone said they first realised something was wrong when they saw smoke coming from the aircraft while it was still in the air.

BShortly after seeing the smoke we saw what looked like a bright orange light,B he said. BMinutes after, we realised it was a fire, not a light. We knew it was going into the water and we heard the Mayday call on the radio. We didnBt actually hear or see it crash, but we headed in the general direction.B

They found three of the crew floating in the water in survival suits, clinging to the wreckage, which was almost Bbroken in twoB. The other two were about 200 yards away.

They used a hoist to pull them out of the water and on to the Fram III. Only one of the crew appeared to be injured. Shortly afterwards a Royal Navy support vessel pulled up alongside and the crew were transferred on to it, before being winched on to rescue helicopters and flown to hospital.

Four of the crew were flown to the Mackinnon Memorial Hospital at Broadford, Skye, suffering from shock and minor injuries. The fifth man was airlifted to the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway with back injuries. The Livingstone brothers resumed their dayBs fishing.

As Royal Navy accident investigators headed for Wester Ross yesterday and an operation to salvage the aircraft began, a Royal Navy spokeswoman said: BIt was very fortunate that a small fishing boat was in the area.B

Lieutenant Commander Paul Crudgington, from the Royal Navy Air Station at Culdrose, Cornwall, said the crew had been in Scotland for two weeks doing trials.

After speaking to the crew in hospital, he said: BThe aircraft had been flying for about 30 minutes and had been in hover for about 10 minutes. It suffered some sort of failure which will be investigated. I am in no position to say what happened, but I can say that the pilot did very well in the circumstances.B

He added: BThe Merlin crashed into the water and inverted, and the crew got out. The crew have some minor injuries and are shocked.B

Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, called for a Bfull investigationB. BThis new generation helicopter will be vital for the capability of the Royal Navy for a long time to come. It is essential that we have a full investigation. The Royal Navy cannot afford to have a helicopter that is not up to the job.B The Ministry of Defence said the crash was the first involving a Merlin since the aircraft came into service in March last year. However during earlier trials it crashed three times. Last July a 3ft panel fell from a Merlin and narrowly missed sunbathers on a beach at Worthing, West Sussex.

The total Merlin programme, including research and development, training and the production of 44 aircraft rose to B#5 billion, and the in-service date slipped by more than five years. The initial contract, signed in 1991, was worth B#1.5 billion.

Both the Commons Defence Committee and the National Audit Office have produced highly critical reports on the programme, which was among the most expensive defence projects B about half the cost of replacing the ageing Polaris ballistic missile submarines with the new four-boat Trident force.

The MoD was unable to give a unit price for each Merlin, but a spokesman for the National Audit Office said that the final bill was B#2.5 billion. Since 44 were ordered in 1991, that meant each one cost in the region of B#57 million.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,26721,00.html

-- Doris (reaper@pacifier.com), October 28, 2000