Inquiry fails to establish exact cause of fatal helicopter crash

PILOT inexperience or an unspecified engine problem, or both, are believed to be the most likely causes of a fatal helicopter crash in Co Longford in 1999.

However, the official report into the incident by the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Public Enterprise has been unable to establish the exact cause of the crash.

The pilot, Pat Stokes, 41, of Woodlawn Park, Churchtown, Dublin, and passenger Anthony Stephen Tebbitt, 47, from Newcastle, Co Wicklow, were killed when their Robinson R22 helicopter crashed in an accident which investigators described as “unsurvivable.” It occurred at around 10.11am on August 27, 1999, at Ballinamuck, Co Longford, during a flight between Weston Aerodrome in Lucan and Sligo to conduct aerial photography.