Is there any scenario where you would route towards blackrock to make an approach towards blacksod?Surely such an obstacle would be avoided with far safer approaches further north available.It appears that the heli tracked directly to blackrock instead of the intended blacksod .Upon seeing the lighthouse one could believe they were already at blacksod especially at night however blackrock is treacherous with its 300ft cliffs and nothing like blacksod.For whatever reason the heli was navigating directly towards blackrock for some time before breaking the irish coast (see AIS data attached).It would appear either blackrock was programmed into the fms from EIDW essentially a typo(unlikely with such highly experienced and capable pilots) or the fms was faulty and as CNPC stated may have had blackrock coordinates in a waypoint called blacksod.If the crew believed they were at blacksod lighthouse but were actually at blackrock lighthouse, at night they would both look the same afterall a lighthouse is a lighthouse but with vastly different surroundings and approaches required.
routing.jpg