Tragic news.

RIP the crew of Rescue 116.

LE Eithne just entering search area.

A tough few days for the Irish rotor community. RIP, brave crew members of R116.

500 Fan.

RIP
the crew of that flight, thoughts are with family and friends

Very sad news - RIP.

I am sure I met Dara on a liaison visit to Waterford from Chivenor a few years ago - a great loss to the SAR community.

Bu&&er. :(

Sad day for all.
I get sadder for any new crash that involves guys and gals putting their lives on the line for others.
Be the accident human error or catastrophic failure it saddens me.
May their memory live long in our hearts.

RIP for the whole crew.
Sincere condolences to all related and local SAR community
Hope we can find out, what went so wrong so quickly...

RIP Dara,
Lovely Lady and true professional. We will miss you.

118 was already gone out to the incident. 116 was then sent to support.

A friend of mine has told me that, during an interview on Irish TV, it was stated that none of 18 beacons (4 on crew) emitted any signal on entering the water.

My heart goes out to all of the families, colleagues and friends.
You are all in my thoughts..

Imagine how many people are alive today because of the actions of these 4 crew over the years.

RIP

A very sad day in Irish aviation. RIP Dara and deepest sympathies to her family. Holding onto hope for the others. Many people are alive today thanks to them. Flying is never just a job.

Irish Times:
'There had been no satellite alerts, no signals, no mayday. Last communication from Rescue 116, at 12.45am, was brief and to the point. It was, “landing in Blacksod”.'

Link
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/coast-guard-crash-it-was-poor-visibility-as-there-was-constant-rain-1.3010740

Met Dara in Stavanger a few years ago at the 61 sim, impressed me as a very knowledgeable and professional pilot........RIP and my condolences to her family.

My deepest condolences to all the families.

I have fond memories of a visit with the Shannon gang in January 1996.

Jerry O'Leary Cutler
ex Okie 61 guy

beyond sadness and lost for words. RIP

Thank you - the initial reports were that 115 from Shannon had conducted the lift from the ship.

So the question still stands, why remove east-coast SAR cover instead of using Shannon for top-cover? I'm not criticising, I'm just perplexed. There is a spare 92 at Shannon, too, though presumably would need crew. If there had been a north-coast incident the same night then the closest SAR cover would have been Waterford... ( CHC / ICG also cover NI waters under an extension to the contract ).

Perhaps it's time the ICG revisited its proposal for organic fixed-wing top-cover, they were looking at Cessna 406s a few years ago but didn't have the funding in place.

Hey EB, I haven't seen any news reports indicating that 115 was involved in the initial shout.

Regarding your question it would be fair to assume that they knew what they were doing in terms of what assets to mobilize for the particular situation that arose that night.

I would also assume that 115 at Shannon was still available to cover the west coast and 117 at Waterford was still available to cover the east coast while 118 and 116 were engaged in the operation.

RIP to the brave souls who were lost and Condolences to everybody involved, a terrible tragedy.

Really winds me up when we get the armchair experts on here criticising how things are done / assets are mobilised.

You really think you know better with the limited information you have?

People like this spouting off helps no one, including the friends and family of those involved, especially when the press quote these armchair experts as they have been known to do.

Wind your neck in

Nuff said.

Rip to the crew, true heroes to the end, very sad day indeed

'kin armchair experts........
 

:ugh: Prestwick, Caernarfon.....SAR is international! RIP guys.

Ex 22 & 202 Sqn's RAF

Absolutely shocked by this. Rest In Peace guys.

Peter Bell

Ex RAF SAR, ex CHC, S92 Capt

And I agree with the comments above. "Perplexed" at the deployment of assets is hardly a relevant point at this time.

Possible reasons include:

Shannon aircraft already on other tasking
Shannon aircraft or crew u/s
Poor weather at Shannon meaning that the Dublin crew had an easier time getting to the scene

Ireland isn't a big country so getting Waterford up the east coast wouldn't cause excessive delay (notwithstanding the ability of British SAR assets to join in, as already mentioned). Let's face it, as soon as Humberside get a job or go u/s, there is nothing on the British east coast between Inverness and Lydd! This is not a dig at Bristow, merely a relevant comparison.

Condolences from across the pond in Nfld. We've lost buddies on SAR ops too and it is a hard hit.


Pete Savage
ex RCAF JRCC SMC and SAR plt

Condolences to my former colleagues and their families in Dublin.

Ex S-61 SAR Dublin

Saw her on the documentary.
Absolute tradegy

dublin sar
 

So sorry to hear the news.Flew with most of the crew at one time or another when I was flying SAR 10-12 years ago.Heart felt condolences to the families and all their friends. Eric Pashley

Capt. Fitzpatrick: a delightful lady to meet, a talented leader, an inspiring and professional aviator to her fingertips, committed 100% to her vocation as a rescue pilot.

The many hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals whose lives were saved by her and her fellow crew-members over the years, will feel a special sorrow at this very sad loss.

Profound condolences to the families and friends of the Rescue 116 crew.

Irish Marine Survey ship "Celtic Voyager" is currently scanning the seabed they are using multi-beam echo sounders to search for the wreckage of the Coast Guard helicopter, if they locate the wreckage they will bring in the larger sister ship "Celtic Explorer" which has a large crane and a remote sub, the Naval ships "LE Eithne" and "LE Roisin" are scanning the area with their equipment, the search is being concentrated near Blackrock Lighthouse. Irish Air Corps Casa and AW139 Helicopter also involved.


Some info here
LATEST: I owe my life to Dara Fitzpatrick and her crew, says cardiac arrest survivor | Irish Examiner

Last AIS & voice
 

Last AIS position recorded at 00:46 (N54.06736º, W10.3229º) is over Black Rock, an islet with light house & helipad, located 17km west of Blacksod helipad. The Irish Times newspaper reported that a last brief voice message declared "landing in Blacksod", but no attribution for the reception of the voice message.

Can any contributor confirm if the S-92A equipped with data/voice recorders incorporating an Underwater Locator Beacon?

RV Celtic Voyager is currently sailing parallel tracks to the west and north of Black Rock at a speed that's probably too fast for side scan sonar tows so it may be trying to detact a ULB transmission or us using its MBES for a bathymetry survey before launching a SSS towfish to locate wreckage on the seafloor. Unfortunately, it looks like the Marine Instiute/GSI 'INFORMAR' bathymetry data doesn't include data for this specific area around the Black Rock islet.

I'll suggest that search coordination is confident of an impact area within 2km west/north west of Black Rock, currently being surveyed by Celtic Voyager, while LE Eithe, LE Róisín, and the RNLI lifeboats search for drifted surface debris.

I hope responders will bring a positive resolution in the search for the three still missing crew members and, in time, their aircraft.

Rescue 116 search update

The main wreckage of Rescue 116 including the black box flight recorders have been discovered close to Blackrock Island off the County Mayo coast.

The wreckage is scattered in water 60 metres from the island and close to 200ft cliffs

The location is 9 nm from the Blacksod Lighthouse refuelling depot that rescue 116 was destined for when all contact was lost early Tuesday morning.

The LÉ Eithne has been appointed the on-scene coordinator for the ongoing search and rescue operation for the three Coast Guard crew members still missing. Naval vessel and divers remain on the scene and the Irish Lights vessel Granuaille which has heavy lifting capabilities is en-route to the area.

Granuaile currently south of Dublin. ETA Blacksod Bay / Mar 17, 06:00.

If they have located the black box off blackrock why does it also look like they concentrating a search off the blacksod light house?

Is that a serious question? What might be floating and moving with tides and wind and would be desirable to find? Here's a clue - there are three of them!

Condolences to the deceased. Tragic that a relatively straightforward cross-country run to a station refuel would end like this.

Always looking at the benefit and alignment of modern technology for rescue purposes. As far as I know, most helicopters these days are satellite tracked, typically pinging every 2 minutes with an accuracy of 60'. With the benefit of AIS near shorelines of developed countries the frequency is more like 2-10 seconds and an accuracy of 6'. Some media have commented on lack of a rescue signal, PLB's require activation and the circumstances may not have lent themselves to that. CPI should be automatic but predictably it once again failed. For their burden of cost, installation and weight, I'd be more heartened to hear of a single ditching where they actually worked as advertised.

CVR/FDR have a sonic pinger that will transmit for about 30 days underwater. Hope the proximity to Blackrock is only a coincidence.

Yes it was, I'm well aware of floating debris but on AIS they seem to be concentrating in an area away from the main wreckage. And I'm aware there are three missing!

Well, two days since the accident and with a prevailing westerly wind, I doubt very much they will be close to the accident site!

There might be a tragic story building here.

The pinger as reported in the press is just off Blackrock Light (BBC News).

The traces of AIS flight path as shown on line show a circle of Blackrock.

The Last AIS position recorded at 00:46 was N54.06736º, W10.3229º, which is just next to Blackrock, in the surf.

The wreckage as reported by fisbangwollop, has been found is just off the island (60 meters). This is unconfirmed by any news source.

Blackrock is located atop a 300 foot cliff, Blacksod is just about at sea level.

Don't think there's any "might" about the outcome.

Let's keep the surmises from the circumstantial evidence to ourselves for now, even if ultimately our own hypotheses are proved correct. There is nothing to immediately gain in a wider safety context if its not attributable to an S92 design/manufacturing flaw which the recorders will help verify for the investigators.