Engineer feared lack of helicopter maintenance

The Clutha helicopter crash inquiry has heard that an engineer described the level of maintenance carried out on helicopters in Glasgow as “an accident waiting to happen”.

Paul Booth was a licenced helicopter engineer with Bond Air Services, the operators of the aircraft which crashed into Glasgow’s Clutha pub in November 2013. He wrote his concerns in a shift handover to management the day before the crash, the inquiry at Hampden Park in Glasgow heard.

Mr Booth’s handover read: “I am extremely concerned at the way we are having to carry out in depth maintenance on our aircraft at Glasgow. It is an accident waiting to happen.”

He said he had not expected anything like the crash to happen.

The inquiry continues.