r44 down in ireland

[chester2005]

just been told an R44 has gone down near Loughrea near Galway southern Ireland

[Practice Auto 3,2,1]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0709/galway.html

:(

[JAF0]

Sad to hear about the incident.
Condolences to the mans family.

Ive read alot of crash reports but this is the 1st time one made me jump, when I read the heli type and location I thought it might have been one of my instructors.

Hopefully the surviving passengers will make a full recovery.

[irishhelipilot]

The accident was tragic and resulted in the death of the experienced 33 year-old ppl pilot and his back-seat passenger. The front seat passenger is recovering in UCHG. The accident happened when the 3 close friends were on a flight from Waterford to Galway in an area of high ground. Conditions at point of departure and arrival were 10k plus with 1500 - 2000 ft cloudbase. Conditions en-route were not-so-good.

The pilot was a ppl with a few hundred hours helicopter time, 50 hrs fixed wing (awaiting test), and a licenced micro-light pilot.

I trust you'll all take this information as the facts in this terrible accident and refrain from idle speculation and further posts which may offend the many aviating friends and family of the deceased pilot. Thankyou.

[Jim236]

According to RTE, 2 men are now dead and the 3rd person is critically injured in Hospital.

[chester2005]

RIP
My sincerest condolances to the families of all concerned.
:(

[Bearcat]

from Sunday Independant.

I note they say the cause of the crash which is the AAIUs job.


Publican and pilot killed in chopper crash




A GALWAY publican and a pilot died in hospital yesterday after their private helicopter crashed into a heavily wooded area in Co Galway, leaving another passenger fighting for his life.

Mark Reilly, 49, owned the Front Door pub in Galway city and Tom Sheridan's pub on the outskirts of the city.

He died at Galway University Hospital yesterday afternoon. Pilot Damien Bergin died from his injuries a few hours later.

Mr Bergin was from east Galway and was involved in the construction industry. He had formerly worked as a car salesman.

The third man, also from Galway, is in a "critical" condition, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

The trio were airlifted by the Shannon Coast Guard helicopter shortly before 1pm yesterday from a forest near Derrybrien, Co Galway, after rescue crews from the Galway, Loughrea and Gort fire brigades struggled for 15 minutes to free them from the mangled wreckage.

Rescue workers carrying heavy cutting equipment and fire extinguishers waded through mud and water to reach the trapped men. Highly-combustible aviation fuel was leaking from the wreckage but it was made safe.

It is understood the men had been attending the Tall Ships Festival in Waterford and were returning to

Galway on board a Robinson 44 four-seater helicopter when they encountered thick fog near Gort and flew into trees in the heavily wooded area. They lost contact with air-traffic controllers at Carnmore Airport minutes before the accident.

A spokesman for the Galway Fire Brigade said they received a call from a 999 operator at 12.08pm who had taken an emergency call - from either the pilot or one of the passengers - saying their helicopter had crashed and they were trapped inside.

"We think it was the pilot who rang, but the phone went dead," he said.

Gardai and ambulance crews were initially unable to find the crash site due to the density of the forest and a rescue helicopter was dispatched to find it from the air. Another helicopter, which was en route to Galway to refuel, quickly diverted to the last known location of the missing chopper and soon spotted the wreckage in thick forest, only 100 yards from an ESB wind farm construction site office.

The crash site, about 200 yards from a road known as 'the Black Road', was sealed off by gardai for examination by themselves and the Accident Investigation Unit of the Irish Aviation Authority.

ESB crews working on a wind farm in the area also sealed off access to prevent a repeat of the devastating landslide that occurred there in October, 2003. One of the first gardai to reach to scene was slightly injured as he attempted to free the injured men from the wreckage.

Supt Michael Mulryan of Loughrea said at the scene: "The helicopter was reported missing shortly after midday by controllers tracking it from Galway. Two helicopters arrived from Galway and one of them located the wreckage, which was only visible from the air. They led the emergency services to the scene."

As medics treated the injured on the ground, a Coast Guard chopper crew prepared to airlift the injured from the scene to hospital in Galway. An ESB safety official arrived at around 2.40pm and asked reporters, photographers and anyone not involved with the rescue operation to leave the area.

One local reported reported seeing a small black helicopter flying very low in the area some time after 11am.

He said: "I don't know if it was the same one but we thought it was going to hit one of the windmills."

[Wizzard]

watsyors,

I note that you have been a member of this site for just a couple of weeks. If you hang around a little longer you will see that it is the norm not to speculate about the cause of accidents, particularly fatal accidents, and to do so in the first 24 hours is appalling! Also to refer to a helicopter "smash" just goes further to show that you can have no regard for the feelings of the people who have been touched by this very sad event. Remember that most pilots will have close friends or colleagues who will also be using this site and they will expect a little respect for those involved in any incident.

Wiz

[irishhelipilot]

Feel free to post again in more restrained language.


Heliport

[Up & Away]

Please just remind me what PPRuNe stands for ???
and why the site was set up??

Thank you ..
and a special well done to those who posted factual information without drama and emotion.

:ok: