November 1, 2024

By  GAVIN MADELEY

This week marks ten years since The Clutha Vaults was synonymous with horrific tragedy when a police helicopter plunged from the skies and crashed through the roof. The chaos and terror of that busy Friday night, just one month before Christmas, led to the deaths of ten people.

The crash caused a palpable shock around the globe, and for residents in Glasgow it was further compounded with a feeling of disbelief at the random nature of the accident.

First Minister Alex Salmond, at the time, called it “a black day for Glasgow and Scotland”. But the courage with which the emergency services responded to this adversity and the ordinary citizens who were caught in events outside their control was remarkable.

We present a compelling minute-by-minute description of the terror that rained on Glasgow.

The clamour of grieving families for answers grows as they bury their loved ones.

Bond Air Services grounded all 22 of the remaining EC135s within days due to concerns about a fuel-gauge problem. However, they stress that this is not related to any issues with Police Scotland’s helicopter.

Babcock will soon buy Bond, despite the fact that up to 80 people have filed compensation claims for as much as PS10million.

The Clutha will reopen in 2015 and a report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch confirms that G-SPAO engines had been’starved of fuel’ because their fuel pump switches were in a wrong position.

The investigation did not blame the pilot, but rather emphasized that the absence of flight data recorders – which are now mandatory for police helicopters — hampered their investigations.

Families believe that they still have not received a complete explanation of the tragic event.

A fatal accident investigation in 2019 criticised Capt Traill’s ‘taking the risk’ by ignoring fuel warnings.

Craig Turnbull, the Sheriff principal of the county sheriff’s office, says that the pilot had enough time to turn on one or both fuel pumps to restart the plane.

It was impossible to find a logical reason why Capt Traill had not done this, and he added: “It’s a mistake that has fatal consequences for 10 people.”

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