Snowdonia helicopter fire 'an accident waiting to happen'

The helicopter, which was based at RAF Valley, crashed in August 2016

An RAF helicopter which was forced to land on a mountain in Snowdonia before bursting into flames was "an accident waiting to happen", an inquiry said.

Five people, including one civilian, escaped after the aircraft made an emergency landing on Yr Aran in 2016.

A technical report into the Griffin helicopter found a structural failure in the main rotor gear support case.

A panel concluded the immediate actions of the pilot reduced the likelihood of injury and possible loss of life.

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The Ministry of Defence panel said it was "an accident waiting to happen".

The panel added: "It only took an attempted landing on a slope, which was outside the aircraft's permitted limits to initiate a sequence of events that led to its destruction.

"Once this sequence had started, there was nothing that the aircrew could have reasonably done to prevent the accident from occurring."

The blaze from the helicopter crash was visible to walkers in Snowdonia