Geoff Hoon has rejected the findings of an inquiry which cleared two pilots of responsibility for the 1994 Chinook helicopter crash.

In a Commons statement the defence secretary said that the pilots had been "grossly negligent" by flying too low, for too long in poor weather conditions.

He told MPs that the government still believed the evidence suggested that the pilots had ignored the meteorological advice about the flying conditions.

While insisting that the government remains open to new evidence, the defence secretary told MPs that he has seen no new evidence that would justify overturning a 1995 RAF board of inquiry finding that the pilots, Flight Lieutenants Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook, were to blame for the crash.

That inquiry ruled that the two pilots were flying too fast and too low in foggy conditions when they crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, killing 29 people - many of them top Northern Ireland security experts.

Whilst he conceded that the case was difficult, Hoon said the two pilots should have taken "avoiding action" to prevent the crash.

"This is a very sensitive and emotive case. I recognise that some people would like to have reached a different conclusion to that of the reviewing officers," he said.

"We require senior military officers to make decisions on the facts at the time, applying their judgement as professional airmen against the high standard of airmanship to which the Royal Air Force adheres."

The defence secretary said he had examined the case with the "greatest care".

"We have probed the alternative hypotheses rigorously to see if there is any other plausible explanation that fits with the facts," he said.

"And we have agonised over whether there was some way that we could exonerate the pilots posthumously. But on the basis of all the evidence, I am unable to do so.

"Apportioning blame for such a terrible accident to men who lost their lives in it was not an easy task for those responsible. Reviewing the circumstances of the case has been one of the hardest duties I have been asked to perform as a Minister.

"Nonetheless, where lives have been lost, we must be willing to examine the facts as carefully and dispassionately as possible, for the sake of all those involved. This we have done."

The news will anger families of the two airmen, who have been fighting a long-running battle to clear their names.

The families insist the RAF broke its own rules by finding the men guilty without complete proof.

Experts have repeatedly suggested that technical faults with the Chinook's Fadec engine control software could have been responsible.

But these claims were dismissed by the defence secretary.

A report by the Commons public accounts committee said the pilots should be cleared, but was dismissed as "superficial" by the government.

And in February this year another inquiry, established by the House of Lords and chaired by former Scottish appeal court judge Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle, also concluded there was no justification for blaming the two men.

Number 10 had earlier said the government would examine any new evidence.

"The government has always maintained that it will look very carefully at any new evidence which is provided," said a Downing Street spokesman.

The pilot's fathers, Mike Tapper and John Cook, expressed their disappointment at the defence secretary's decision.

"We cannot understand how the Ministry of Defence can reject the findings of such a distinguished group of peers from all political parties," they said.

"As the Lords' report demonstrated, the MoD report is built not on fact but on assumptions.

"How the MoD can continue insisting that its story stands up is incomprehensible to us."