THE family of one of the RAF Odiham servicemen killed in a helicopter crash says they have been ‘"et down by the MoD".

The coroner, Darren Salter, made a number of safety recommendations to the MoD at the close of the inquest on March 15. He concluded that fatigue and a lack of training could have contributed to the accident.

The Lynx mk9A helicopter crashed in Kandahar province of Afghanistan on April 26, 2014. Four of the five crew on board were based at RAF Odiham.

What should have been a routine training exercise turned into the worst crash involving a British helicopter in the war. The coroner recommended that the MoD reviews manning levels and their impact on the strain experienced by service personnel.

As well as this, he stated that flight recorders should be kept in newer aircraft, after concerns were raised in the investigation that a safety alarm failed to go off as the aircraft plummeted to the ground.

An earlier official report concluded the helicopter was serviceable, and was under the control of the crew when it hit the ground. The crash was – in large part – caused by ’procedural drift’ on the part of the operating unit, as the conflict began to wind down, according to the Military Aviation Authority.

The inquest was told that Warrant Officer Spencer Faulkner’s voice could be heard on the flight recording. He could be heard shouting ‘pull up’ three times, just moments before the Lynx aircraft hit the ground.

The helicopter dropped 25ft in half a second, despite attempts by the crew to halt its descent.

Speaking after the verdict was given, relatives of one the dead servicemen said they felt ‘let down’ by the MoD, and that ‘significant question marks’ remain over what caused the tragic accident.

Lance Corporal Oliver Thomas’ family said in a statement: “The Ministry of Defence and those involved had a duty of care to their employees and passengers, and in our opinion they did not provide Oliver with this by their failure to adhere to the rules and procedures set out – and as a family we feel very let down.”

In a tribute to the lost serviceman, they added: “The last two years have been extremely difficult since the loss of Oliver, who loved what he was doing in Afghanistan. He was highly respected by his colleagues and described as the ‘go to man’ doing an extremely difficult job for his country.

“His future was tragically taken away from him and us. As the coroner said, this was a case of controlled flight into terrain, due to lack of situational awareness, and misjudgement of height.”

Warrant Officer Faulkner had served in the military for 22 years and was on his last operation before retiring shortly before his 40th birthday. He left behind a widow, Cally, and two young children.

In a statement, Mrs Faulkner said: “We just wanted answers about what happened and what went wrong to cause the crash. It has been very difficult hearing evidence, but we are thankful to the coroner for investigating the events of that tragic day.

“Nothing can ever bring Spencer back to us but we hope that lessons will be learned from this incident to reduce the risk of similar accidents in future. Throughout this inquest I, and the other families, have heard all the witnesses speak about the true professionalism of each of the men killed in this incident.

“Spencer was always committed to doing his very best for the armed forces, but he was also a family man who was loved by everyone.”

The representative for WO Faulkner’s family, Andrew Buckham, agreed with the coroner’s recommendations: “We know some things have changed already, but obviously we want to see as much change as possible to ensure that accidents like this don’t happen again.

“Our service personnel are under a lot of stresses and strains, and we expect them to do a fantastic job, but to do that they must be given the right tools, the right procedures and the right equipment to do that.”

He added that he was confident these would be undertaken: “The MoD is a big organisation. I appreciate that sometimes these things take a little bit of time, but fingers crossed.

“This is the second investigation following the serious inquiry, so let’s hope that the MoD is listening.”