I've been lurking here for the past few weeks since the tragic accident and haven't posted. However I have a question that is troubling me and would be grateful for any clarification that can be provided by y'all. I have read the AAIU report, and have looked at a number of Coast Guard related information resources that are available on the web.
My reading suggests that the IRCG ought never to have been tasked to deal with the SAR/Medevac incident in the first place. According to the AAIU report, "The position of the FV at the time of the call was N 54 17.450’, W 014 06.944’, which was 141 nm and bearing 270 degrees from Eagle Island, Co. Mayo. "
The North Westerly boundary of the Irish SAR responsibility is contained in the IRCG SAR framework, previously linked to here and available at
http://www.dttas.ie/sites/default/fi...-framework.pdf
The Irish SAR 'box' is contained within the area identified by the coordinates laid out in Appendix 1.1 of that framework. These coordinates are listed as:
55 20N 006 55W - 55 25N 007 20W
55 20N 008 15W - 54 45N 009 00W
54 34N 010 00W - 54 00N 015 00W
51 00N 015 00W - 51 00N 008 00W
52 20N 005 30W - 53 55N 005 30W
54 25N 008 10W - 55 22N 006 55W
A depiction of that area is contained at Image 1 attached to this post.
Anything outside the Irish box lies with the designated UK SAR area, to be dealt with by UK-based SAR rather than Irish SAR. and is depicted on Image 2, which is taken from Annex 1 of the Strategic Overview of UK's SAR Operations published in January of this year.
Finally, Image 3 depicts my placing of the published coordinates of the North Westerly extremity of the "Irish SAR box", coupled with the coordinates of the FV published by the AAIU.
My question is this: Have I totally made a hames of placing the published coordinates onto my Google Maps?
Or,
Did that FV makes its call within the UK realm of responsibility, rather than that of the IRCG? If so, when the FV contacted Malin on that night, why did Malin start the whole process of tasking Irish SAR resources when the FV did not lie within its area of responsibility. Why did Malin not hand off to the UK- based SAR services instead?