Army plane had to make crash landing
December 1983
An army airplane with two people on board had to make a forced emergency landing at Castlebridge Airport, three miles from Wexford, on Wednesday afternoon.
The Cessna plane got into difficulties after hitting power lines at Ferrycarrig. It managed to regain height and reach nearby Castlebridge, where it landed safely.
Air Corps engineers were at Castlebridge within hours to assess damage to the aircraft, which can carry up to eight people.
A full army investigation into the incident is also likely.
News of the plane’s difficulties launched a major garda alert in Wexford at lunchtime on Wednesday. Several people saw the plane hitting ESB wires at Ferrycarrig and the gardaí were notified.
Because it was flying so low at the time, it was feared it may have ditched into the River Slaney, and squad cars were at the scene within minutes. Most officers patrolled the nearby banks of the river on foot, to search for signs of any plane crash, while others drove roads that roughly follow the river both north and south.
But gardaí later learned the plane had landed safely at Castlebridge. It is believed that neither the pilot nor the passenger – both military personnel – were injured.
An Army Press Office spokesman said that the plane had gotten into difficulties at 1.15 p.m. He couldn’t confirm it had hit wires, but this was instead confirmed by Wexford gardaí.
The spokesman said the plane was flying ‘reasonably low’ at the time because of bad weather.
He said it was on a normal operational flight out of Gormanstown, and that it had been flying in the Wexford area for some time before the incident.
The Army spokesman denied that the aircraft was on any special reconnaissance duty of that it may have been involved in the nationwide search for the missing Quinnsworth executive, Mr. Don Tidey.
Inspector Tom Conneely, Wexford, said the Gardaí were alerted because of fears that the plane would ditch in the river.
Yet it managed to regain height and reach Castlebridge.
An ESB spokesman said the cutting of the high tension wires at Ferrycarrig had disrupted power supplies over a large area, including the coastline from Blackwater to Wexford. Yet repair work had restored power to some homes within thirty minutes, and power was restored to most areas later in the day.
Some areas were still expected to be without power this morning (Thursday), but permanent reapir work was due to start at 9 a.m., when supplies would be fully restored.
The pilot and his passenger were not in danger of electrocution because the line has an automatic protect system which comes into operation immediately the line is severed, the spokesman added.