Helicopter crash not reported for a day

ALMOST a day elapsed before the emergency services were alerted to the disappearance of a helicopter, found crashed, with two crew dead on board.

The last radio contact between the two crew members – pilot Colm Clancy and trainee Dermot Sheridan – and air traffic control, was at 4.12pm on April 1, 2009. It was 10.38am on April 2 before a search for the missing helicopter was initiated following a call from a concerned family member of one of the missing men.

The time lapse between the disappearance of the aircraft and the time it was reported missing has been highlighted in a preliminary report into the accident by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) of the Department of Transport.