Sad News re Coastguard

[Rois]

Heartbreaking. True heroes.

[seafoid]

I was in hospital in Galway a few years ago and always remember the sound of the helicopter bringing people in, saving lives.

[Tony Baloney]

Very brave people working in those conditions and helicopters are f**king death traps too. Coming back to refuel so hopefully didn't run out of fuel.

There was no Mayday issued, presumably they have an emergency tank or the like and would have issued a call if it was on fumes.

Brutal stuff. I know a few lads on the rigs in the North Sea and they post regularly on Facebook that the worst part of their job is the flight there and back.

[Never beat the deeler]

Very brave people working in those conditions and helicopters are f**king death traps too. Coming back to refuel so hopefully didn't run out of fuel.

The helicopter was three years old. Don't know how you came to that conclusion. And they were only topping up fuel to maximise the time they could spend on the operation.

My thoughts are with the families and colleagues of these brave,brave men and women

[SHEEDY]

Dreadful news, thoughts with the families and friends of all connected.

[Mayo4Sam]

Awful news, RIP

Apparently they came from Dublin and had refuelled in Belmullet before going out, no mayday and it wasn't a bad nite, we'll probably never know but it could just be a sad accident

Thoughts are with the fisherman they went out to rescue, hard thing to have to live with

[armaghniac]

Apparently they came from Dublin and had refuelled in Belmullet before going out, no mayday and it wasn't a bad nite, we'll probably never know but it could just be a sad accident

These helicopters are designed for scenarios where there might be problems, the lack of emergency beacons etc is rather puzzling.

[orangeman]

A terrible tragedy to befall those who were so used to rescuing people in danger.

RIP

[Declan]

Jesus Journalists do my head in sometimes

Mystery surrounds crash at sea as Coast Guard helicopter tragedy 'unlikely to have been caused by mechanical fault' is the headline

Robin Schiller

March 15 2017 2:30 AM

The families of three missing Coast Guard helicopter crew are praying that they will be found after a tragedy that left a "dark cloud over Ireland".
A full-scale search will continue this morning for the members who went missing after the helicopter they were travelling in crashed near Blacksod on the Mayo coast.

One crew member, Captain Dara Fitzpatrick (45), was recovered early yesterday morning. The experienced pilot was transferred to hospital in a critical condition, but she was later pronounced dead.

The three other missing people are father-of-three Ciaran Smith (38), from Oldtown in north county Dublin; Mark Duffy, a father-of-two from Co Louth, and experienced winchman Paul Ormsby.

Rescue 116 and its crew had travelled from Dublin to the west of Ireland to assist another Coast Guard helicopter when the incident occurred at around 1am. Coast Guard sources said there was no evidence that the crew of the stricken helicopter had attempted to send a mayday call. This would suggest that whatever happened, the crash was unlikely to have been caused by a mechanical fault.But the sources stressed that it was too early in the investigation to speculate on the cause.


Isn't that what your doing by your headline - speculating?

The Dublin-based crew had been providing top cover for another Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 118, that was performing a medical evacuation off the coast of Mayo.

Rescue 116 was returning to base when it fell out of contact. A search operation got under way and a large amount of debris was found.

Members of the Irish Coast Guard were involved in a search operation to find the three missing men throughout yesterday, and were helped by the RNLI, the Air Corps, the Defence Forces, as well as local fishing vessels.

Families of the missing crew members gathered at the lighthouse in Blacksod, Co Mayo, shortly after 6pm yesterday, where they met rescue workers involved in the search for their loved ones.

Gerard O'Flynn, VS&T operations manager of the Irish Coast Guard, said that the search would be scaled down overnight and resume this morning.

"The search will continue, albeit at a reduced level. Recovery of debris has been a feature of the search all day, I think you saw a bigger piece come in there and that's all part of your Accident Investigation Unit and will be all taken into storage.

"Unfortunately, with the passage of time, the level of hope does go down - but you never know, pilots are exceptionally well-trained people, they're exceptionally physically fit.

"So you know, you hang on to a thread of hope, but you have to be fearful that with the passage of time that the chances of people surviving is reducing."

He had earlier confirmed that Capt Fitzpatrick had been pronounced dead in hospital. She was one of very few female civilian rescue pilots worldwide.
She had more than 20 years' flying experience and was chief pilot in Waterford since 2002. She described her job as "challenging and exciting" during the filming of the 'Rescue 117' documentary for RTÉ. "Dara was the most senior pilot and has been with the company for close on 20 years. For all of us involved in the Coast Guard, and for particularly her family, it has come as a complete shock," Mr O'Flynn said.

Her sister, Niamh Fitzpatrick, also paid tribute. "My brave sister Capt Dara Fitzpatrick lost her life in Rescue 116 crash.
"We are devastated. Please pray for recovery of three remaining crew," Ms Fitzpatrick wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, Mark Dearey, the chairman of Dundalk Municipal District, who knows Mark Duffy and his wider family, said they were "hoping against hope".

As the search progressed, the LÉ Róisín carried a large amount of debris to near the coastline, where it was met by smaller trawlers who brought the objects to shore.
However, the recovery of the flight recorders, or the black box, will be crucial to determine what happened.

Speaking in Washington, Taoiseach Enda Kenny extended the "deepest sympathy" of the Government to the family of Capt Fitzpatrick.

Mr Kenny said he knew the area of the Mayo coast where Rescue 116 went down well.
"It is striking that on a bright spring day, such a dark cloud hangs over Ireland," he said.
President Michael D Higgins said: "Today marks a dark day in the history of the Coast Guard."

Irish Independent

[magpie seanie]

Seems that because of a loss of personnel the Air Corps were unable to give support when requested, meaning that the helicopter from Dublin had to come to provide the assistance. Who's the Minister for Defence and where is he at this sad time? Over playing the leprechaun (in fairness he's good at that at least) rather than dealing with issues that impact real people. How do these people sleep at night?

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Seems that because of a loss of personnel the Air Corps were unable to give support when requested, meaning that the helicopter from Dublin had to come to provide the assistance. Who's the Minister for Defence and where is he at this sad time? Over playing the leprechaun (in fairness he's good at that at least) rather than dealing with issues that impact real people. How do these people sleep at night?

You really think Enda will fly back?

[AZOffaly]

Seems that because of a loss of personnel the Air Corps were unable to give support when requested, meaning that the helicopter from Dublin had to come to provide the assistance. Who's the Minister for Defence and where is he at this sad time? Over playing the leprechaun (in fairness he's good at that at least) rather than dealing with issues that impact real people. How do these people sleep at night?

I saw that seanie, but to be fair they fly missions like this all the time, so I just think it's shit bad luck.

[magpie seanie]

Seems that because of a loss of personnel the Air Corps were unable to give support when requested, meaning that the helicopter from Dublin had to come to provide the assistance. Who's the Minister for Defence and where is he at this sad time? Over playing the leprechaun (in fairness he's good at that at least) rather than dealing with issues that impact real people. How do these people sleep at night?

I saw that seanie, but to be fair they fly missions like this all the time, so I just think it's shit bad luck.

Bad luck - that's not good enough for me to be honest.

When you under resource important stuff (while simultaneously wasting or throwing away money on other things) and bad things happen I think a large proportion of the blame must be taken by the decision makers. NAMA/Project Eagle is this weeks example of hundreds of millions down the drain and as always, no one is accountable. In the UK this week the number 2 in the Bank of England resigned over not declaring that her brother worked for Barclays, a bank the BoE regulate. Not a hope would she have had to resign over here. We accept bullshit far too easily here and its the cornerstone of our problems.

And why don't we have a proper minister for this, not the Taoiseach supposedly looking after it? The stuff the defence forces do is important and they should be resourced to do more.

[AZOffaly]

Hang on. Why do you think this crash happened? Because it was a Coast Guard helicopter instead of an Air Corps one? Who's to say the Air Corps aircraft wouldn't have met the same fate? Who can tell any of this, other than fate and/or luck? It's not as if they went up in an aircraft that wasn't suitable for the task.. sure they fly these sort of missions all the time.

I'm all for kicking Enda Kenny around, and the stupid cuts made but this strikes me as a bit tenuous, and opportunism if you don't mind me saying so.

[AZOffaly]

I also see the page is now taken down, I wonder are some facts being double checked?

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/loss-of-experienced-personnel-in-defence-forces-meant-rescue-116-was-sent-on-illfated-mission-instead-35536497.html