Originally Posted by
M100S2
Puzzling if they turned back and then proceded across the mountains in what have been poor conditions when the normally very visible airfield at Llanbedr is on the foreshore just three miles south of Harlech.
Perhaps, and this is pure speculation of course, they did turn back and they were trying to find somewhere safe to put down when the weather closed in on them
The area is notorious for weather closing in on you unexpectedly and quickly and if the pilot was not comfortable or qualified to fly IFR then logic suggests that he or she will have tried to find a safe landing somewhere nearby with a view to waiting out the weather
The media have named the owners, the husband is a qualified helicopter pilot (although level of qualification not stated as yet), the neighbours have confirmed that they are away and that the wife is Irish and they have flown to Ireland many times in the past...all tends to suggest that they were aboard, subject to confirmation...if it is them and they have been regular flyers to Dublin, they probably used the same route many times and felt safe using it again this time
Its very very sad......one hopes that they did not suffer as being stranded on the side of a mountain overnight if badly hurt and not being found in time does not bear thinking about, especially for family & friends left behind