REPORT INTO FATAL R116 CRASH DUE TO BE PUBLISHED SOON
PILOTS HAD BEEN AWAKE FOR OVER 17 HOURS
THE long wait which the families of the crew of the ill-fated Rescue 116 have had for answers as to why the Sikorsky S-921 helicopter crashed into Blackrock island off the Mayo coast in the early hours of March 14, 2017 is nearing an end.
The report into the crash in which Dundalk native Captain Mark Duffy, Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, Paul Ormsby and Ciaran Smith perished is due to be published very soon.
According to a recent article in The Sunday Times, the investigation by the Irish Air Aviation Authority has concluded and the final report will be published in the coming weeks.
A preliminary report published in April 2017 detailed the frantic efforts of the crew to avoid crashing into Blacksod island which wasn’t registered on the crew’s internal mapping system.
Seconds after winceman Ciaran Smith, who was in the rear of the cabin, warned ‘ looking at an island just in, directly ahead of us now guys, you want to come right,’ 51 year old Mark Duffy said ‘We’re gone’. Those were the last words from the highly experienced pilot and father of two who lived in Blackrock.
That report also detailed how Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, who was piloting the helicopter, and Captain Duffy had remarked that neither of them had landed at Blacksod in quite a while.
The preliminary report ruled out mechanical fault, finding the helicopter had pitched up rapidly before its tail and landing gear struck the western end of Blackrock Island, nine nautical miles west off Blacksod lighthouse, where it was heading to refuel.
Their Dublin based helicopter had been asked to provide ‘ top cover’ or support for the Sligo R118 helicopter on a medical evacuation 140 nautical miles west of Eagle Island.
The crew were using a preprogrammed route deficient in key navigational information. Blackrock lighthouse, the first waypoint on a semi-circular approach to refuel, was absent from the helicopter’s enhanced ground position warning system, a situational awareness tool.
The preliminary report also said the locator beacons in life jackets worn by the pilots had been installed incorrectly, due to a difference in interpreting manufacturers’ instructions
According to the story in the Sunday Times, Captain Fitzpatrick and Captain Duffy had been awake for more than 18 and 17 hours respectively.
The continuing investigations into the accident do not attribute liability or blame, as this is not the Air Accident Investigation Unit’s (AAIT’s) remit, but do suggest that the crew were let down by a lack of regulation.