Passenger now confirmed as Lord Ballyedmond.
After the 2004 crash of an A109 at Bournemouth in 2004, the CAA produced the following recommendations.
We still have too many Night VFR VIP helicopter accidents operating out of private sites at night????
Mathew Harding
Philip Carter
Lord Balleymond
Often single pilot, poor weather, too high a workload.
Not to mention Haughey Air's S76 accident in Ireland, which was different but shows how quickly things can go tragically wrong.
FOLLOW UP ACTION
The one Safety Recommendation, made by the AAIB following their investigation, is reproduced below, together with the CAA’s response.
Recommendation 2005-55
The Civil Aviation Authority should review the Rules of the Air and relevant regulations in their applicability to helicopters and should consider imposing minimum visibility requirements for day and night. These minima should afford an effective safety margin to prevent inadvertent flight in instrument meteorological condition or loss of adequate external visual references. The requirement for a clearly defined horizon, particularly over water or featureless terrain should also be considered.
CAA Response
The CAA accepts this Recommendation.
The CAA has prepared a draft Regulatory Impact Assessment and consultation commenced in February 2005, with a view to setting minimum visibility requirements for all flights conducted by visual reference, whether by day under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) or under the provisions for visual reference flight contained in the Instrument Flight Rules (IFR).