Military and civilian air crash investigators were yesterday examining the wreckage of the Air Corps helicopter which crashed on Tramore beach with the loss of all four crew members.
The accident is the worst in Air Corps history. A special ceremony is being planned at Casement Aerodrome at Baldonnel tomorrow for the flight crew, Capt David O'Flaherty, Capt Michael Baker, Sgt Paddy Mooney and Cpl Niall Byrne. They had just begun the first day of service for the new Air Corps search-and-rescue operation based in Waterford.
Their bodies were taken from Tramore strand yesterday afternoon as the thick fog which contributed to the loss of control of their aircraft again enveloped the Waterford coastline. Wreckage from the French-manufactured Dauphin helicopter was also being removed from the site to a hangar in Baldonnel where it is being examined. The exact cause of the accident was not clear yesterday. The crew had been called out at 10.30 p.m. on Thursday to find a pleasure craft which was lost in the fog off Dungarvan.
The Dauphin crew successfully located the boat and guided the RNLI lifeboat to it and then escorted them to safety through the fog. The aircraft then turned towards Waterford airport. It made three unsuccessful attempts to land at the airport and then radioed the Irish Marine Rescue Service to say it was unable to land there and was going to attempt a landing at Tramore beach.
It is believed the crew was hoping to find a break in the fog along the beach. High tide was around 11 p.m., and the pilots may have been seeking a landing spot further up the beach when the helicopter struck a high sand dune close to the shore.
A Defence Forces spokesman, Comdt Eogan O Neachtain, dismissed as "complete rubbish" a suggestion that the Air Corps had been pressurised to introduce the 24-hour service in the region earlier than it would have liked.