§ Mr. Wigginasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will take steps to seek the reopening of the inquiries into the British Vanguard crash at Hochwald on Tuesday 10th April 1973 in the light of the discovery that continuous carrier-frequency signals used by Electricié de France may mislead aircraft approaching Basle airport.
§ Mr. DellI do not intend in the present circumstances to approach the Swiss authorities with the suggestion that they reopen the inquiry into the Vanguard accident at Basle. The relevant annex of the Convention on Internatioal Civil Aviation requires new and significant evidence to be presented before an aircraft accident investigation can be reopened, and I am not aware that this condition has been satisfied. Although the official report of the commission of inquiry does not say so, the French report of interference caused by continuous carrier-frequency signals passed through high tension cables was passed to the investigators by the French authorities during the course of the investigation. The commission concluded that this was not a significant factor in the accident. The commission attributed the accident to the loss of orientation—by the flight crew—dur304W ing two approaches to land and added that confusion of navigation aids was, amongst other things, a contributory factor. I have no reason to believe that this is any less valid now than it was when the report was first released in September 1975.