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

Heard a local radio interview this morning and learned that Captain Mark Duffy lived in Athenry and worked out of Abbeyknockmoy Co Galway as a pilot for business man Declan Ganley.

Declan had the height of respect for Mark and said he was a highly qualified and professional pilot in which he trusted his life on almost a daily basis over the two year period he worked for him before leaving to join the Coast Guard.

He also said Mark was meticulous when it came to safety checks of the craft and systems prior to every flight and referred to all the crew of R116 by saying that anyone who flew out to see in the dead of night to save the lives of others were national heroes. Declan Ganley was en-route to Captain Duffy’s funeral when he took the interview.

Gadgetman496 wrote: »

Heard a local radio interview this morning and learned that Captain Mark Duffy lived in Athenry and worked out of Abbeyknockmoy Co Galway as a pilot for business man Declan Ganley.

Declan had the height of respect for Mark and said he was a highly qualified and professional pilot in which he trusted his life on almost a daily basis over the two year period he worked for him before leaving to join the Coast Guard.

He also said Mark was meticulous when it came to safety checks of the craft and systems prior to every flight and referred to all the crew of R116 by saying that anyone who flew out to see in the dead of night to save the lives of others were national heroes. Declan Ganley was en-route to Captain Duffy’s funeral when he took the interview.

Yes I follow him on Twitter and could see he was very upset. Thought this was quite touching: https://twitter.com/declanganley/status/841745768386035712

Plans to tilt the wreckage of Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter 116 using inflatable lifting bags are being abandoned due to inclement conditions at sea.

Spring tides have complicated already difficult diving conditions around Blackrock Island in Co Mayo in recent days.

Search co-ordinators now plan to lift the wreckage to the surface using a hoist over the weekend, when swells ease.

A specially equipped boat is travelling to north Mayo to take part in the operation.

It will be positioned directly above the aircraft, so the five-tonne wreckage can be taken from the water.

Naval Service divers will assist in the effort, which will allow for the inspection of an area below the helicopter that has been inaccessible since the crash over two weeks ago.

Search teams want to see if they can find any trace of the two missing crew members, Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith, in this location.

The wreckage will be lifted entirely from the water and brought ashore.

It will be assessed by the Air Accident Investigation Unit, which is charged with identifying the causes of the fatal crash.

Naval Service divers attached specially designed lifting bags to the helicopter earlier this week but an effort to raise the wreckage in this manner proved impossible.

Source: RTE

The following was posted by "the skipper" magazine ...hope they can finally find the remaining crew ..


Ocean Challenger tug has left Castletownbere to assist in recovery of #Rescue116 wreckage

The 35 metre Ocean Challenger tug, operated by Bere Island based salvage experts Atlantic Towage & Marine, has departed Castletownbere Harbour tonight bound for Blacksod Bay to assist in the operation to recover the main wreckage of Rescue 116 and according to Marine Traffic is expected on scene over the weekend to join the Naval Diving Team currently on site..

Search co-ordinators have indicated that they now plan to lift the wreckage to the surface using the Ocean Challenger and other vessels on scene over the weekend when swells ease.

Naval Service divers will assist in the effort, which will allow for the inspection of an area below the helicopter that has been inaccessible since the crash over two weeks ago.

Plans to move the wreckage of Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter 116 using inflatable lifting bags were abandoned in recent days due to the large swell conditions at sea.

The mid sized tug will be positioned directly above the site, so the five-tonne wreckage can be taken from the water from a depth of 40 metres.

In 2014 Atlantic Towage & Marine successfully retrieved the 4 tonne keel of the yacht Rambler 100 from a depth of 75 metres off the Fastnet Rock in similar conditions to the Rescue 116 accident site at Blackrock island..

I think the change in tactics is to be welcomed. It looks like a formidable machine.

Tenger wrote: »

This has been brought up a couple of times already. The sense is that CHC has a contract for 4 SAR choppers with a 5th as a reserve. Multiple crews to operate each airframe. So currently there are still 4 in the fleet. The contract will no doubt have a clause about maintaining cover after an incident like this.
The issue that was raised previously was, as SAR S-92s are so specialised in terms of equipment/fit out a new build is probably easier/cheaper than acquiring and upgrading an inservice airframe.

As I understand it, solely from reading stuff, effectively the service requires 5 machines to be provided, so that 4 will always (statistically) be available for 24/7 operation. The 5th machine then 'slots in' to the available machine roster if one of the 4 operational machines is taken out of service for planned maintenance or urgent repair.

As soon as planned maintenance or urgent repair is needed on one the the current 4 machines, operational capability will be reduced to 75%, even though we need 100%. This needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.

sword1 wrote: »

Mainly there for there knowledge I would think. Presume they are bringing airbags, compressors up with them. Granuaile has a 20tonne crane so once it is on the surface it should be straight forward

Maybe, I'm sure the coordinators know best. I'm still a bit confused though - Granuaile has all the lifting equipment needed, a tug does not. The tug can pull 55,000kg horizontally but doesn't have the buoyancy to do it vertically.

I can find out for sure but it will take a day or two, Pretty sure that crane would not be up to lifting 5000kg+ from the sea floor in open sea.

I could be wrong, that's only my opinion.

Any possibility it will be used to pull the craft to a position that the Granuaile can safely lift it from?

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Just to clarify, earlier reports seemed to refer to the company (Atlantic Towing) having performed a similar lift previously, not the Ocean Challenger.

Atlantic Towage are the company that own the Ocean Challenger and the company that successfully performed a similar lift, so I'd imagine if they sent the Ocean Challenger to the recovery site they believe she's up to the task.

Irish Steve wrote: »

I suspect that the tug is being deployed because it has very fast acting and very powerful positioning capability that looks like it will be needed to ensure that they can stay "on station" over the wreckage regardless of what the swell and currents are doing. The impression I've gained from comments is that the Granuaile does not have the same level of station keeping ability, so putting it too close in is a risk they don't want to take.

Totally in the area of speculation, I wonder if the Ocean Challenger will be relatively closely coupled to the Granuaile to keep her on station for the lifting, with the tug's power providing the position holding that otherwise would not be possible. Having said that, Ocean Challenger has been used previously for a similar lift, based on comments previously, so the team on site clearly believe that this option will give them a capability that is not present on site at the moment.

So speculation is ok on the thread now?