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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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Cianmcliam

Reati wrote: »

Do we even have military drones here? I've only ever seen inspires and matrices used for SAR. Both limited to 20 to 35 minutes of flight at max range of 7km from the operator.

The Air Corps do have a fairly serious looking fixed wing drone, only about 1.5m long but definitely an expensive piece of kit.

ectoraige

Reati wrote: »

Do we even have military drones here? I've only ever seen inspires and matrices used for SAR. Both limited to 20 to 35 minutes of flight at max range of 7km from the operator.

The Army have at least two Israeli Orbiter Mini UAVs which are man-portable, for "over-the-hill" surveillance, they cost something like €350,000 a pop. I believe they had plans to purchase up to twelve, but don't know if they did. I haven't heard mention of them being used for SAR.

I think Civil Defence predominantly use the Inspire Pros and Matrice 600s, but also have some Typhoon Hs and an S1000 drone as well. There's a picture of their drone fleet here.

I don't know where you got the 7km range figure from though, IAA rules have a 300m limit, although I believe Civil Defence have a special derogation to operate up to 500m away. Operator still has to maintain line of site, and the drones are limited to an altitude of 120m.

Storm 10

Reati wrote: »

Do we even have military drones here? I've only ever seen inspires and matrices used for SAR. Both limited to 20 to 35 minutes of flight at max range of 7km from the operator.

The Navy have a ship launched drone on the new ships, I saw a picture of one it looks like a small aircraft cant find it now.

ectoraige

This map was posted on facebook, showing the type of area in which the drones are being used.

Reati

ectoraige wrote: »

I don't know where you got the 7km range figure from though, IAA rules have a 300m limit, although I believe Civil Defence have a special derogation to operate up to 500m away. Operator still has to maintain line of site, and the drones are limited to an altitude of 120m.

They are rated to go 7KM by the manufacturer is what I meant.

But to your point. Yes, the SI for general drone usage states the limits you mention but you can file to do both EVLOS (which you mentioned the CD do up to 500m) or BVLOS drone flights if you have passed the training courses for it. The IAA are great at approving these where there is a need.

I did the tests to go out to 500m VLOS as part of my drone training so I would imagine (or hope) the Civil Defense would be completed the training for that too.

Gaoth Laidir

The search is being scaled down now as the Granuaile ends its participation.

http://www.rte.ie/news/connacht/2017/0410/866740-rescue-116/

TomOnBoard

Granuaile now showing as having left the BlackRock/Blacksod areas heading for Galway ETA 04:30 tomorrow.

TomOnBoard

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

The search is being scaled down now as the Granuaile ends its participation.

http://www.rte.ie/news/connacht/2017/0410/866740-rescue-116/

Our posts crossed.

I think the intensity/ scale of the search had run its course. As it winds down (with focussed future searches of areas of specific interest) the whole country owes a great debt of gratitude to all the volunteers who have been involved at the coast and at sea.

While it doesn't bring anyone back, I hope families got considerable comfort from all those hundreds of people who have shared their time in trying to 'bring those boys home".

Storm 10

Rescue 115 landed in the Phoenix Park, medical transfer from Kerry, now in Dublin Airport

homerjay2005

Storm 10 wrote: »

Rescue 115 landed in the Phoenix Park, medical transfer from Kerry, now in Dublin Airport

any reason why they landed there? would the main hospitals not have the facility for them to land?

like for instance, could a patient for vincents not land in the golf course next door

jimbis

homerjay2005 wrote: »

any reason why they landed there? would the main hospitals not have the facility for them to land?

like for instance, could a patient for vincents not land in the golf course next door

Because it's a transfer it most likely wasn't time critical so opting for a nice big open space like the park would be safer. Or maybe it was a burn patient heading to st James'.
But yes the main critical care hospitals have designated landing sites close by, football fields etc.

Gaoth Laidir

Statement from the AAIU.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit and An Garda Síochána in conjunction with Coast Guard have expressed their sincere appreciation to the Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL) and Marine Institute who were supported by GSI (Geological Survey Office), for the extensive search conducted in the vicinity of Black Rock lighthouse following the tragic loss of Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 on March 14.

The search operation conducted by the Marine Institute's Holland 1 ROV concluded this afternoon when the Granuaile departed Blacksod Bay.

Supt. Tony Healy confirmed that the Garda water unit would conduct diving searches in the vicinity of Blackrock Light as soon as wind and tidal conditions are considered suitable.

He also confirmed that he had requested Coast Guard and Civil Defence volunteers to continue with targeted searches of coastal areas and monitoring of specific areas of interest.

Gerard O'Flynn from the Coast Guard thanked all the statutory and voluntary organisations for their unstinting support over the past four weeks, paying special thanks to Coast Guard, RNLI and Civil Defence volunteers and Defence Forces assets including naval divers, ships and Air Corps. He added that the operation highlighted the value of inter-agency cooperation in meeting challenges of this type.

The Coast Guard also wishes to remind all mariners to keep a good lookout for any material associated with Rescue 116 and to report any findings to Malin Head Coast Guard Coordination Centre.

AGS, AAIU and IRCG reiterated their sympathy to the families of Dara Fitzpatrick, Mark Duffy, Paul Ormsby and Ciaran Smith and expressed the hope that with the extensive monitoring both at sea and on shore that the remains of Paul and Ciaran would be found.

Ends

homerjay2005

jimbis wrote: »

Because it's a transfer it most likely wasn't time critical so opting for a nice big open space like the park would be safer. Or maybe it was a burn patient heading to st James'.
But yes the main critical care hospitals have designated landing sites close by, football fields etc.

yes, i completely forgot about James being nearby there! makes sense now, the would be the closest landing location to there for sure.

ectoraige

Reati wrote: »

They are rated to go 7KM by the manufacturer is what I meant.

But to your point. Yes, the SI for general drone usage states the limits you mention but you can file to do both EVLOS (which you mentioned the CD do up to 500m) or BVLOS drone flights if you have passed the training courses for it. The IAA are great at approving these where there is a need.

I did the tests to go out to 500m VLOS as part of my drone training so I would imagine (or hope) the Civil Defense would be completed the training for that too.

Gotcha. Civil Defence drone operators are indeed IAA licenced SUA pilots, and do EVLOS, but not BVLOS. Technically they fall under the defence forces so could qualify for greater exemptions but don't as they prefer to operate within the available civilian framework.

Discodog

homerjay2005 wrote: »

yes, i completely forgot about James being nearby there! makes sense now, the would be the closest landing location to there for sure.

I love watching them land at Galway hospital but I hope that nothing ever goes wrong because there is no room for error.

Sterling Archer

Discodog wrote: »

I love watching them land at Galway hospital but I hope that nothing ever goes wrong because there is no room for error.

Is there still that Green Field site just to the west of the hospital?

Discodog

Shane_ef wrote: »

Is there still that Green Field site just to the west of the hospital?

Nope they land in the carpark right next to the buildings. It's impressive but seems a very tight fit. This is the smaller helicopter landing there.

You can see the difference compared to the old site here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055588083

Sterling Archer

Cheers, I meant to green pitch area seen on google maps, if it's still there it'd be a viable location for a forced landing under certain circumstances Maps link

Discodog

Shane_ef wrote: »

Cheers, I meant to green pitch area seen on google maps, if it's still there it'd be a viable location for a forced landing under certain circumstances Maps link

There are sports fields etc. The worry would be a problem during the final stages. They are very close to buildings & the dual carriageway.

galway rower

Shane_ef wrote: »

Cheers, I meant to green pitch area seen on google maps, if it's still there it'd be a viable location for a forced landing under certain circumstances Maps link

Yes they can land there, there was rescue 115 and air corps 276 in at the same time today with R115 on the helipad and 276 on the pitch beside the helipad.

Storm 10

Rescue 115 on the pad at Galway this evening, as you can see its a pretty large pad with Air Corps 112 on the pitch

Coil Kilcrea

Granuaile finally leaving Galway. What a job they did.

Anyone know when the AAIU interim report will issue?

Cloudio9

I'd be surprised if it wasn't tomorrow as that is thirty days exactly and we're heading into a four day weekend.

TomOnBoard

Is the 30-day publication milestone an actual requirement as per law and regulations or is it more like a 'best practice' milestone?

Cloudio9

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Is the 30-day publication milestone an actual requirement as per law and regulations or is it more like a 'best practice' milestone?

I believe it's best practice and I'm sure the AAIU would consider themselves among the best.

Gaoth Laidir

Jurgen Whyte did say they would be issuing a 30-day report, as per international standards.

Storm 10

Great to see Rescue 116 is now operational again

https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2017/april/11/skerries-rnli-rescue-swimmer-in-difficulty-at-shenick-island

TomOnBoard

Coil Kilcrea wrote: »

Granuaile finally leaving Galway. What a job they did.

Anyone know when the AAIU interim report will issue?

Not to detract from the efforts of the Granuaile crew, I think it was the effort of the Holland I ROV team that was probably most intense and intensive and deserves a special mention.

Sterling Archer

It been a long sad Journey, can't believe it's 30 days already, Great work by everyone and every agency involved, including Mary making the sandwiches (you can be sure there was one)

Bazzy

Its a bit eerie and or sad how quiet this thread has become