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Rescue 116 Crash at Blackrock, Co Mayo(Mod note in post 1)

sparrowcar

Contact lost just before 0100 off the west coast of Achill island on a rescue mission.
Search in progress including all available ships and Rescue 115.

Hopefully a positive outcome to this.

Please keep replies civil, and respectful of the crew and their families.

Please do not speculate as to any cause unless you have a factual basis to do so (and can back it up with information released to the public).

There will be zero tolerance for troublemakers or those that choose to ignore these guidelines.

There are other moderator messages in the thread, as a result of issues that have arisen, and we will be less forgiving going forward, due to the ongoing sensitivity of this incident

As per normal boards guidance, any comments on moderation are off topic and should be addressed directly to mods or cmods by PM. Any part of posts which are off topic in such a manner may be edited or removed, with possible sanction. Non news posts will be moved to the parallel R116 Non news and discussion thread

Should any new reports, updates or news stories come out, posts which can be boiled down to "I Told You So" or other triumphalism about previous commentary will result in significant punishment.

Any threadbans will carry over to any replacement thread should this approach 10,000 posts

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TomOnBoard

A special mention this night also for the crew of Rescue 118 out of Sligo which carried out a successful mission by rescuing the injured fisherman last night. It must be so dreadful for each of that crew to deal with the loss of their most immediate comrades on 116 who were intended to be the safety net for 118's rescue, rather than becoming the "ground zero" of a terrible loss

What a heavy lift, and a terrible personal tragedy.

jimmycrackcorm

Armchair Andy wrote:

Read this before I went out to work this morning. I've been thinking of those heroes and how a 3 year old is mommy less tonight. Makes me quietly very sad. RIP ye brave people.

No doubt in years to come, that little child will be able to watch the RTE 117 documentary with incredible pride.

logie101

Terrible tragedy.

But just curious if it is known who the pilot in command was? The news reports seem to be focusing on the late Capt Fitzpatrick (RIP) but the other pilot was "Chief Pilot". Was he the more senior aircrew onboard?

Gaoth Laidir

The outpouring of grief by so many here is something to behold, testimony to the high esteem in which these guys are held. They selflessly payed the ultimate sacrifice carrying out a service that no one can but admire.

Slán, a cháirde.

adam88

ectoraige wrote: »

The beacons don't work if they are submerged, unfortunately. Also, the winchmen would be expected to get wet so theirs may need manual activation. It's not clear yet under what circumstances Captain Fitzpatrick was recovered.

Sort of defeats the purpose of these beacons !!

Stheno

logie101 wrote: »

Terrible tragedy.

But just curious if it is known who the pilot in command was? The news reports seem to be focusing on the late Capt Fitzpatrick (RIP) but the other pilot was "Chief Pilot". Was he the more senior aircrew onboard?

Who gives a ****e who was in charge? These people spend their days saving people working for a living/engaging in sport, regardless, they are there 24/7 with the sole intent of saving lives!

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

The outpouring of grief by so many here is something to behold, testimony to the high esteem in which these guys are held. They selflessly payed the ultimate sacrifice carrying out a service that no one can but admire.

Slán, a cháirde.

Today really brought home to me what's involved with the likes of sailing, I only took it up a few years ago in my late thirties, and always assumed the rescue services were there, and would be, as most of my sailing is inshore, so no massive risk, it would be rare that we'd be more than 10 miles offshore, and I was hoping to get into offshore sailing.

Yet this tragedy was six miles offshore so within the limits of what I as a novice sailor would regularly do.

Really brought it home what services these guys do, and at what potential cost

Effects

logie101 wrote: »

Terrible tragedy.

But just curious if it is known who the pilot in command was? The news reports seem to be focusing on the late Capt Fitzpatrick (RIP) but the other pilot was "Chief Pilot". Was he the more senior aircrew onboard?

Not that hard to find out if you tried to. She was the captain and the senior pilot.

adam88

sdanseo wrote: »

You can listen to Shannon ATC at liveatc.net and I had a look at the archives, the time period is recorded as are most airports in Ireland. Kind of wish I hadn't. The controller calls three times, and just no reply.

You can only imagine what was going through his head.

I often listen to Shannon late at nite if I'm doing book work. Never heard a thing. Unless I was on the wrong frequency.

logie101

Effects wrote: »

Not that hard to find out if you tried to. She was the captain and the senior pilot.

With all due respect. I am aware that she was a Captain and senior pilot. But that doesn't necessarily conclude that she was PIC on that flight.

faoiarvok

adam88 wrote: »

Sort of defeats the purpose of these beacons !!

They don't cease operating because of getting wet, it's a matter of the signal being undetectable if the beacons are underwater. I don't really want to continue down that line of speculation though.

sdanseo

adam88 wrote: »

I often listen to Shannon late at nite if I'm doing book work. Never heard a thing. Unless I was on the wrong frequency.

0000Z-0030Z and 0030Z-0100Z archives. Used audacity to help find the audio activity in the file.

MadYaker

116 saved a friend of mine after he injured himself surfing a few years ago. As a surfer and kayaker myself it's always been reassuring to know that they are there. This has made me really sad. RIP.

squonk

Very sad today to hear of this incident. I see the Shannon based helicopter pass by here all the time in it's way to Galway for medevac or reconnaissance along the coast, or to help out for emergencies along the coast. You can always rely on these guys to be there when and where they're needed. I've had persons, circumstances where medevac was required for a family member so I greatly appreciate the work done by these great people. My thoughts are with the families of the crew and I hope all can have closure as soon as possible.

Sterling Archer

I think Gerard O'Flynn has done an amazing Job today, such a horrific situation to be in and some of the questions put to him across the media have been so blunt and distasteful, can't imagine being in his shoes.

dublinman1990

I just want to express my sympathy to the family of Capt Dara Fitzpatrick who died today in this tragic accident.

I would also like to spare my thoughts to the three other GC's who have gone missing at sea along the Mayo Coastline.

I first heard about the story by reading the live ticker on the BBC News Channel. I hadn't watched or the read the Irish news stories today as I hadn't time because of other commitments. I had watched the RTE 9 O'Clock News earlier tonight while being held with a lot of despair. To hear of three other coastguards going missing while being in 116 with Dara Fitzpatrick is very heartbreaking news so far.

I do hope with the grace of god that the remaining GC's will not be found under more worse circumstances then what happened to Capt Fitzpatrick. These CG provide a very valiant service to our own countrymen & women. These people provide a vital and necessary service with no discrimination being afforded to any member of the public. These people are regarded as true heroes of the country & are treated as such by fellow Irish people.

I usually see a GC helicopter sometimes around the coastline of Dun Laoghaire & around the Blackrock area in Dublin. Whenever they are out on duty; it is a tough job to do everyday which requires them to try & help people who are most in need of their vital assistance.

They are a huge credit to the country for the work they have given us so far. I will pay tribute to them in my prayers tonight.

May god be with them all through this awful tragedy.

Gadgetman496

An absolute devastating blow to everyone. God bless the crew, their families and all concerned.

I'm all my life (so far) living in an area that those helicopters fly over every day at low enough altitude and I remember commenting on the engine sound of the new fleet of S-92's, they sound really bad compared to the sound of the ones they replaced (The old Sikorsky S61s). I can't explain it properly but it was like comparing the sound of a well tuned 5 litre American truck to a clapped out 2 litre diesel that hadn't been serviced in 3 years.

It may not be at all related, but Sikorsky did issue a worldwide recall of all S92 aircraft for maintenance and inspection work in January of this year after an incident on a North Sea platform. Our fleet were included in that safety alert too and were cleared to go back into service after inspection.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/752554/Helicopter-safety-alert-after-North-Sea-rig-scare

Sexual Chocolate

Devastating tragedy for the crews family, friends and colleagues.

Only Monday night last week did I drive around to the back of the Dublin Airport to get a couple of photos of the MD-10 that was visiting and while there as I drove out from the boot inn car park did I catch a glimps of 116 parked in its hanger with its gleaming red and white paint work awaiting its next mission.

Bsal

Living close to the threshold of runway 16 at Dublin I see that helicopter fly over my house headed for Malahide on their training missions on a daily basis, very sad news. My prayers are with all involved.

Final Approach

Rest in Peace Captain Fitzpatrick.

Jawgap

Bsal wrote: »

Living close to the threshold of runway 16 at Dublin I see that helicopter fly over my house headed for Malahide on their training missions on a daily basis, very sad news. My prayers are with all involved.

Would regularly see Rescue 116 tracking along the coast to flying over the house. I'd always look up and wonder what they were doing and in bad weather wish them a silent prayer of success on whatever souls they were off to save.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic - it feels like I've lost "my" coastguard heli.

RIP to Captain Fitzpatrick, and her crew (Mark Duffy, Ciarán Smith and Paul Ormsby) and hopefully time will bring some comfort to their families.

tomwaterford

Stheno wrote: »

Today really brought home to me what's involved with the likes of sailing, I only took it up a few years ago in my late thirties, and always assumed the rescue services were there, and would be, as most of my sailing is inshore, so no massive risk, it would be rare that we'd be more than 10 miles offshore, and I was hoping to get into offshore sailing.

Yet this tragedy was six miles offshore so within the limits of what I as a novice sailor would regularly do.

Really brought it home what services these guys do, and at what potential cost

Not to be grim....but some my fathers aunts and unxles from near a fishing village in the waterford gaeltacht and there's a saying there....roughly translated meaning your grave is always open in relation to fishing off boats

Though I do hope they find the rest of the remains.....I see lads on Facebook in the coast gaurds and mountain rescue at home posting about it
A terrible tradedy....I hope noone is lost looking for them either

duskyjoe

We all need to know what caused the crash. Indo this morn insensitive and finger pointing. Way too early for that.

vicwatson

duskyjoe wrote: »

We all need to know what caused the crash. Indo this morn insensitive and finger pointing. Way too early for that.

Finger pointing?

faoiarvok

vicwatson wrote: »

Finger pointing?

They somehow concluded that lack of a mayday call from the aircraft meant it was "unlikely to have been caused by a mechanical fault", which makes no sense.

vicwatson

faoiarvok wrote: »

They somehow concluded that lack of a mayday call from the aircraft meant it was "unlikely to have been caused by a mechanical fault", which makes no sense.

The good old indo - the broadsheet sun. Full of speculation. :rolleyes::mad:

Gaoth Laidir

faoiarvok wrote: »

They somehow concluded that lack of a mayday call from the aircraft meant it was "unlikely to have been caused by a mechanical fault", which makes no sense.

Then again, you are quoting the Independent, which has become the definition of garbage journalism in Ireland. I trust nothing they write.

I will only listen to what Jurgen Whyte and his team have to say.

knucklehead6

duskyjoe wrote: »

We all need to know what caused the crash. Indo this morn insensitive and finger pointing. Way too early for that.

vicwatson wrote: »

Finger pointing?

faoiarvok wrote: »

They somehow concluded that lack of a mayday call from the aircraft meant it was "unlikely to have been caused by a mechanical fault", which makes no sense.

It's the indo. About par for the course from that rag

Gaoth Laidir

Captain FitzPatrick's sister will be on RTE Radio 1 shortly.

Danbo!

faoiarvok wrote: »

They somehow concluded that lack of a mayday call from the aircraft meant it was "unlikely to have been caused by a mechanical fault", which makes no sense.

Let's lash that in the headline and then bury the details in the article.

"But the sources stressed that it was too early in the investigation to speculate on the cause."

:rolleyes:

FrancieBrady

My family has had tragic occasion to need this service. Possibly this very craft and crew.

My sincerest sympathies to all affected.