AN inquest into the deaths of RAF Odiham servicemen has heard regulations were broken by one of the air crewmen involved in the helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

Flight pilot Captain Thomas Clarke, 30, Warrant Officer Spencer Faulkner, 38, Corporal James Walters, 36, all of the Army Air Corps, were the Lynx aircraft’s three-man team when it went down 30 miles from the Pakistan border in Kandahar province.

Also in the helicopter were Flight Lieutenant Rakesh Chauhan, 29, of the Royal Air Force, and Lance Corporal Oliver Thomas, 26, of the Intelligence Corps, who also died in the April 2014 crash.

All the men were based at RAF Odiham, with the exception of Lance Corporal Thomas.

The hearing began on March 7 at Oxford Coroner’s Court, where the coroner heard that regulations had been broken with regard to what was required of airmen returning to duty.

Spencer Faulkner had, on three occasions, failed to carry out a theatre familiarisation flight before returning to active duty in Afghanistan.

Officer Faulkner had flown in Afghanistan before, with the inquest hearing he was “a very experienced pilot and commander with about 2,000 hours flying experience”. He was due to retire in December 2015, on his 40th birthday, according to his widow Cally, who said in a statement that “he was very much a family man.”

Major Kevin Anderson, the squadron training officer at the time, highlighted Officer Faulkner’s experience at the inquest, but they responded by saying it did not mean he had “not picked up or developed any bad habits”.

The coroner did hear however, that there had been concerns raised at the time regarding Captain Clarke’s flying experience as he had not been on operations in Oman and had no experience flying in the desert.

This comes after the coroner also heard that a review of the squadron at RAF Odiham in 2013 found the delivery of flying training to be “just satisfactory” and that weather at the time of the accident was “the best conditions for flying.”

The helicopter had descended 25ft in half a second during routine training, and a military investigation ruled out any mechanical failures or enemy action, blaming it instead a series of human factors.

The crash was the worst involving a British helicopter in Afghanistan and was described by the MoD as a “tragic accident”, and bought the number of service personnel killed there to 453.

Group Captain Richard Maddison, station commander at RAF Odiham, had previously paid tribute to the men, saying: “They were fine ambassadors for their unit and for a defence as a whole, and we shall not forget them.”

The hearing continues.