“We’re Gone”: Preliminary report reveals final words of Rescue 116 crew before fatal crash – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

“We’re Gone”: Preliminary report reveals final words of Rescue 116 crew before fatal crash




The tragic final words of Irish Coast Guard Rescue crew 116 have been released this evening.

The final words of the four strong crew of two of whom are still missing, were released as part of a preliminary report into what caused the crash last month.

According to Air Accident Investigators the crash that claimed the lives of all four crew members onboard was caused by a number of contributing factors.

Although the report is not conclusive Investigators believe the helicopter went down after it hit Black Rock island, about 10km off the Mayo Coast during a routine rescue mission.

They also say that the crash occurred due to mapping error that found the island’s terrain wasn’t registered on the crew’s internal mapping system.

In an extract from the report in Investigators say that Black Rock and its Lighthouse, was not logged in the EGPWS, with the mapping manufacturer informing them “it is not in the obstacle database and the terrain of the island is not in our terrain database.”

“The Rescue 116 recording contains no reference by the crew to the presence of a lighthouse or terrain at Black Rock during their briefing for APBSS.”

Meanwhile the crews last moments were also published as part of information received in the helicopters blackbox. In an extract from the report the crew are reported as saying the following.

Rear Crew Channel: “K… looking at an island just in, directly ahead of us now guys, you want to come right [Commander’s Name]”

Commander: “OK, come right just confirm?”

Rear Crew Channel: “About… twenty degrees right yeah.”

Commander: “OK Come Right… select heading.”

Co-pilot: “Roger… Heading selected.”

Rear Crew Channel: “Come right now. come right. COME RIGHT.”

Smoke in baggage.

Co-pilot: “[Expletive] OOOHHHH [Expletive].”

Co-pilot “We’re gone.”

The report also highlights that the crew who were mission focused only discovered the island a mere 13 seconds before impact. It also states that crew did indeed try a last second evasion manouver with the helicopter “rapidly pitching its nose up” during the two seconds prior to the initial impact.

Following the initial impact, the investigators say intial data indicates that the helicopter climbed whilst experiencing large changes in pitch, roll and yaw angles.

The detailed report also lists the timeline of events by referencing a number of key factors including the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR or black box), the log of what controls were used or triggered during the flight, and external evidence such as mapping systems, weather reports and flight safety features.

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