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

deuceswild wrote: »

Any chance they could have mixed up Blackrock with Blacksod and were approaching Blackrock with a view to land there?

Blacksod is pretty much at sea level where blackrock is a lot higher.

Not a chance IMO

Welruc

Any chance they could have mixed up Blackrock with Blacksod and were approaching Blackrock with a view to land there?

Blacksod is pretty much at sea level where blackrock is a lot higher.

irishgeo wrote: »

Pretty sure reports said it was poor visibility with rain. It cleared up after that though.

I am assuming that they rely on visual to land at Blacksod. If the wreckage is that close to the Island, even allowing for movement, drift etc, it still seems to be very close

Pretty sure reports said it was poor visibility with rain. It cleared up after that though.

tricky D wrote: »

post 180 shows this

Yes. There is debate about this earlier in the thread & I thought it strange to approach downwind but that is the procedure. There are lots of cases of aircraft hitting the sea when they are searching for the cloud base.

vicwatson

Calina wrote: »

You're not being very logical about it. The fact that Shannon or Malin might have tried to contact them three times and got no response means that there absolutely was no time to communicate a mayday. Otherwise they would have answered.

Look at it like this. Let's assume you lose control of your car. Do you a) grab your phone and phone someone to say "I'm losing control of my car" or do you b) turn the wheel in an effort to get control back?

I realise there were 2 pilots in the helicopter but the assumption must be that if no call for aid was made, then there was no time for it. This is not a Hollywood film where there's a long drawn out sequence of a pilot frantically crying Mayday Mayday Mayday.

I'm quite aware time might not have been on the side of the pilots. I wasn't aware this is a competition. Just wait the findings is the best way, no point in point scoring. Or accusing posters of not being logical.

The whole damn scenario is not logical.

Steve wrote: »

Anyone know MSA for the area?

I was also worried they collided with black rock as that's the last AIS fix, unlikely though.

Pat Kenny actually asked about it during an interview yesterday.

These accidents are rarely the result of one thing. It's usually a series of events. Flying low over water gives little time to correct problems

tricky D

Discodog wrote: »

I was talking with a friend who is a pilot. He said that it would be normal to pass over the landing point & fly out to sea. Then turn back in & descend to approach low over the water thereby avoiding any obstacles. They could of been very low if they were searching for the cloudbase.

post 180 shows this

Shane_ef wrote: »

Steve

irishgeo wrote: »

Descending from 4000ft. It's unlikely they hit the lighthouse so.

Anyone know MSA for the area?

I was also worried they collided with black rock as that's the last AIS fix, unlikely though.

El Weirdo wrote: »

What a disgustingly horrible, click-baity headline.

The recording is actually on the liveatc site for Shannon as it happens. I find the headline a bit of overkill for what was anodyne conversation taking place potentially 30 minutes before anything might have happened to worry about.

That being said, there is a BBC documentary about the loss of the Solomon Brown, the Penlee Lifeboat, about 30 years ago and they have tape of the coastguard trying to contact the lifeboat and getting no reply when they vanished in the middle of a conversation. There's something utterly heartbreaking listening to that.

irishgeo wrote: »

Certainly weren't as low as the lighthouse which is still a good bit from the blacksod if flying normally.

There's a near 30 minute time gap. You can only know they were at 4000 feet at the point at which the coversation took place. After that, we have to hope that the data recorder will tell us where they were.

irishgeo wrote: »

Certainly weren't as low as the lighthouse which is still a good bit from the blacksod if flying normally.

What was the cloudbase that night ?

tricky D

jmayo wrote: »

Does anyone know what the forecast is like for the next couple of days.

Here's hoping there is a long enough window in the weather.

http://xcweather.co.uk/forecast/achill_island

Blowing up on Friday to Sunday afternoon.

Calina wrote: »

I am not sure. This is the last contact they had. From what I can see, there was a 30 minute time gap between the contact, and the attempt to contact them. I suspect the failed attempt to contact was made because they disappeared from the radar. I'm not sure you can be certain they were still at 4000 feet at that point in time.

Certainly weren't as low as the lighthouse which is still a good bit from the blacksod if flying normally.

I was talking with a friend who is a pilot. He said that it would be normal to pass over the landing point & fly out to sea. Then turn back in & descend to approach low over the water thereby avoiding any obstacles. They could of been very low if they were searching for the cloudbase.

irishgeo wrote: »

Descending from 4000ft. It's unlikely they hit the lighthouse so.

I am not sure. This is the last contact they had. From what I can see, there was a 30 minute time gap between the contact, and the attempt to contact them. I suspect the failed attempt to contact was made because they disappeared from the radar. I'm not sure you can be certain they were still at 4000 feet at that point in time.

El Weirdo

Gadgetman496 wrote: »

Revealed Final words of Coast Guard Rescue 116's helicopter pilot

What a disgustingly horrible, click-baity headline.

Revealed Final words of Coast Guard Rescue 116's helicopter pilot

Gadgetman496 wrote: »

Revealed Final words of Coast Guard Rescue 116's helicopter pilot

Descending from 4000ft. It's unlikely they hit the lighthouse so.

Gadgetman496

Sea forecast for tomorrow is pretty much like today but gales are forecast for Friday.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

was more thinking about the lighthouse island as opposed to the building itself.

that map posted a few post ups makes it a possibility, the speed they were travelling at added to the fact they had just swung around means its something that plausible.

for those saying there would be signs, even barely clipping the egde of a rock with the tail would be enough to see it come down. what we do know is that it hit the water at high speed and the debris area is quite large.

There is a helipad on that island though. Absent any other information I wonder if they were trying to reach it for any reason.

vicwatson wrote: »

I thought Malin Head had tried contacting SAR116 3 times beforehand. Time there to communicate a mayday. How and ever onwards we go. Tragic no matter what.

You're not being very logical about it. The fact that Shannon or Malin might have tried to contact them three times and got no response means that there absolutely was no time to communicate a mayday. Otherwise they would have answered.

Look at it like this. Let's assume you lose control of your car. Do you a) grab your phone and phone someone to say "I'm losing control of my car" or do you b) turn the wheel in an effort to get control back?

I realise there were 2 pilots in the helicopter but the assumption must be that if no call for aid was made, then there was no time for it. This is not a Hollywood film where there's a long drawn out sequence of a pilot frantically crying Mayday Mayday Mayday.

homerjay2005

Cloudio9 wrote: »

I'd think that's extremely unlikely they'd be that low and there would be some damage to the lighthouse.

was more thinking about the lighthouse island as opposed to the building itself.

that map posted a few post ups makes it a possibility, the speed they were travelling at added to the fact they had just swung around means its something that plausible.

for those saying there would be signs, even barely clipping the egde of a rock with the tail would be enough to see it come down. what we do know is that it hit the water at high speed and the debris area is quite large.