THE owner of the Clutha bar has said that a report into the venue's fatal helicopter disaster has "created a mystery" out of the tragedy.
Alan Crossan, owner of the Clutha Vaults pub in Glasgow, said that investigators had left survivors and the bereaved with nothing but "speculation and guess work" by appearing to pin responsibility on the pilot.
Posting on Facebook, Mr Crossan said: “I really feel for the families and the injured of the Clutha tragedy. I was hoping - probably naively - that the AAIB report would have given them at least some answers.
"What they have now created out of the Clutha Tragedy is the Clutha Mystery. We are left with speculation and guess work."
In its final report, published on Friday, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) revealed that Captain David Traill had silenced a series of low-fuel warnings and remained in the air for another 20 minutes, in breach of safety protocols which advise pilots to land within 10 minutes of a low fuel alert.
Cockpit switches which control the flow of fuel from the tanks to the engines had also been turned off mid-flight, for reasons investigators have been unable to explain.
The crash has been blamed on fuel starvation, which caused both engines on the Eurocopter EC135 to cut out.
The report also detailed how fuel quantity sensors in the aircraft's main tank and both supply tanks had been replaced or repaired in the months leading up to the crash after giving "spurious" readings. However, investigators stressed no defects had been recorded by the Police Scotland chopper on November 29, 2013, the day of the crash.
Mr Crossan added: "What [the AAIB] have now told us is that they cannot apportion any blame but clearly without saying it they are blaming the pilot – a man with no right to reply. I do not for one minute believe that a pilot as experienced as David Traill chose to ignore fuel warnings."
Captain Traill died alongside police constables Tony Collins and Kirsty Nelis, and seven people on the ground, when the helicopter lost power and plunged through the roof of the packed Clutha pub.
It comes after Evelyn Holmes Mitchell, Captain Traill's half-sister, appealed for aviation experts to help the family clear his name.
Ms Holmes Mitchell said: "The veiled allegation that my brother was the cause of the Clutha crash that killed another nine left many injured and more emotionally wounded is totally unacceptable.
"David would not only have done everything in his power to save his companions and others but had the years of flying and teaching to make sure such a thing would not happen."
Meanwhile, David Learmount, a former RAF pilot and aviation safety writer at FlightGlobal, queried the AAIB's tone.
He said: “The AAIB’s report has a drier than usual style, reflecting its clear puzzlement as to why an experienced helicopter pilot with a good professional record would demonstrate such incompetence. Protocol would allow the AAIB to discuss possible reasons, but it has chosen not to do so."
Mr Learmount suggested that Captain Traill, 51, might have suffered "some form of subtle incapacitation", without realising.
The Crown Office has vowed to hold a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the disaster as soon as possible.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said it was disappointing that the long-awaited report "does not reach a clearer conclusion and raises more questions than it answers".
Mr Matheson urged the UK's Department for Transport to fulfill recommendations to equip all police helicopters with black boxes "as quickly as possible".
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