The Irish Lights ship Granuaile has redeployed an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) off north Mayo's Blackrock island in the continued search for three missing Irish Coast Guard airmen.
Sea conditions are easing slightly, and the ROV was successfully positioned this morning to examine the wreckage of the Sikorsky S-92 Rescue 116 helicopter which crashed early on March 14th.
The helicopter fuselage was located by the ROV on Wednesday off the south-east tip of Blackrock island, 13km west of north Mayo.
This was where the faint chirp from the black box recorder had first been detected on March 15th, less than 36 hours after the helicopter crash.
The Granuaile will remain on location until the tide changes, as strong tidal streams running north make it difficult to hold a position off the rock.
Swell around the rock after a prolonged spell of broken weather is still too great for diving on the tenth day of the search for co-pilot Capt Mark Duffy and winch crew Paul Ormsby and Ciaran Smith.
However, the Naval Service diving section is on standby to inspect the main fuselage of the Sikorsky S-92 as soon as conditions are safe to do so, and search teams are still hoping that the bodies of the three missing airmen will be in or close to this location.
Winds
The Naval Service ship LE Samuel Beckett has taken over on-scene co-ordination from the LE Eithne.
Fresh north-north-easterly winds are forecast to moderate later on Thursday evening, and local fishermen say north-east winds can flatten the constant swell around Blackrock.
The Irish Coast Guard has stressed that safety is paramount. The 13-man Naval Service dive team will be informed by footage from the ROV of a seabed area which is exposed to strong tides and significant Atlantic surges.
Irish Lights director of operations and navigation Capt Robert McCabe also credited the quality of seabed surveying undertaken over the past week by the INFOMAR scientists from the Marine Insitute and Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI).
“This seabed mapping had made it much safer for the Granuaile to approach this area,”Capt McCabe said. “The quality of our hydrographic data since the national seabed mapping programme was initiated some years ago is now among the best in Europe,”he said.
Relatives of senior pilot Capt Dara Fitzpatrick and her three missing colleagues were on board the Naval Service patrol ship LE Eithne on Wednesday morning when they were informed that the wreckage had been identified.
It was the first time they had been able to visit the site close to where the helicopter lost communication in the early hours of March 14th while approaching Blacksod for a routine refuel.
Medical evacuation
The Irish Coast Guard Dublin-based search and rescue helicopter had been tasked to support its Sligo-based counterpart on the night of March 13th on a medical evacuation 241km west of the Mayo coast.
The identification of the main fuselage has been described as “hugely significant” by Garda Supt Tony Healy of Belmullet Garda Station and Irish Coast Guard incident manager Niall Ferns.
Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) chief inspector Jurgen Whyte said on Wednesday that it was "hugely positive" and he was "hopeful" that the bodies of the airmen could also be found.
“We could hear the beacon, we were homing in on the beacon, and...we located the main part of the wreckage which is the helicopter itself,”Mr Whyte said.
“It is just a matter of getting the weather window to the get the ROV down to work its way through the wreckage,”Mr Whyte said.
The next stage would be “a matter for the ROV operators and Navy and Garda divers, but obviously we will treat this with great respect, and if we can access into the aircraft then hopefully we will be successful in recovering the three missing crew members,”Mr Whyte said.
Mr Whyte said the priority on locating the three men, and only then would the focus shift to the flight recorder and fuselage.
The AAIU confirmed on Monday night (march 20) that the tail section of the helicopter made “some contact” with the western slopes of Blackrock”, but no direct impact with the lighthouse had been found. Its investigators hope retrieval of the black box will yield vital information about the final moments of the aircraft.
No Mayday was issued, and no transponders or personal locator beacons worn by the crew were detected.
