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Pilot killed as helicopter crashes in fog on way to pick up racegoers
AN air accident investigation will begin today after a man was killed in a helicopter crash five miles outside Dingle, Co Kerry last night.
The body of the pilot, a 41-year-old father-of-two from Dublin, was found in the burned out privately-owned Bell Jet Ranger.
The accident happened in the Strickeen Mountains between Dingle and Lispole shortly after 7pm.
According to gardai, the four-seater helicopter crashed in an extremely mountainous area in dense fog.
The pilot may have encountered difficulties due to lack of visibility.
It is not believed the aircraft - owned by the Helicopter Sale and Leasing Company - was trying to land at the time.
Emergency services including Dingle Mountain Rescue rushed to the scene. They were hampered initially by the weather conditions.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the only person in the helicopter.
The victim is believed to be a professional pilot who was hired to fly business people on a pleasure trip to the races in Tralee.
The aircraft left Weston airport in Lucan outside Dublin bound for Kerry yesterday afternoon. It dropped off a group of three people at the race meeting in Tralee.
Sources last night said the pilot of the blue and red helicopter was on his way back to the races to pick up clients when the accident occurred.
The alarm was raised shortly after 7pm by locals in Lispole.
Local woman Theresa Rafferty alerted the emergency services after the helicopter crashed behind her house.
"I heard the helicopter overhead and I figured it was in trouble by some of the noises it was making. I heard a bang and then silence. I just dialled 999 straight away. I knew there was no point in ringing the local gardai as it was definitely an emergency," Ms Rafferty said.
"I didn't go up as the fog was very dense here and it was very hard to see. Three of my neighbours went up with the emergency services to show them where the spot was," she added.
Ambulance and fire brigade crews from Tralee rushed to the scene but the victim was already dead when they got there.
A spokeswoman for the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said the victim was not believed to have been in contact with air traffic control at Shannon at the time of the accident.
She said visibility was very bad in the area at the time of the accident.
Department of Transport air accident investigators asked gardai to preserve the scene and a full investigation will begin today.
A spokesman for the department said the investigators would travel to Kerry overnight to be at the scene of the accident at first light.
A spokesman for Tralee racecourse last night said that only two helicopters landed there yesterday.
One of them, owned by Celtic Helicopters, brought trainer Dermot Weld and his connections to the races.
The second - the helicopter involved in the accident - was privately owned and brought three racegoers to the meeting.
Kathy Donaghy, Martha Kearns and Alan O'Keeffe
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