‘We heard on radio about deaths. We knew it was Colm’

A loving father has told how he heard about his helicopter pilot son’s tragic death on his car radio.

Matt Clancy had only heard earlier that his son Colm, 34, had gone missing during a training flight.

The Donegal accountant and his wife, Betty, jumped in their car to make the long journey from their home in Gaoth Dobhair, West Donegal, to Weston Airport in Dublin, where Colm was based.

However, just an hour into the journey they received the devastating news that there had been two fatalities as a result of an air accident.

Matt revealed: “My son had been making his way from Galway and had heard reports that there had been wreckage found and he phoned us.

“Then we heard on our own radio that there had been two fatalities. I pulled the car into the side of the road. We just sat there and we knew it was Colm. I think we held hands and just cried and hugged each other.”

Colm had been giving helicopter training to young trainee pilot Dermot Sheridan, 24, from Co Clare, when the tragedy occurred.

The pair were carrying out manoeuvres in the Bog of Allen in Co Kildare on April, 2009, when they struck overhead wires.

Both died instantly.

Now, three years later, Colm and his family are still coming to terms with the loss of their son.

“We think of Colm every single day. Little things remind us of him. The last time I saw him before he died, we were picking moss out of the garden at our home.

“I was picking moss again this week and he came rushing into my thoughts.

“He was such a lovely guy. Everyone knew him. People said to me that all the 500 pupils at his secondary school in Falcarragh knew him by name when he was there. He was a people person,” said Matt.

He described his son as very driven who just went for things when he made up his mind.

Colm had a very good job as a civil engineer but decided in 2005 he wanted to become a helicopter pilot.

“He re-mortgaged his house a couple of times so he could pay for the training to become a helicopter pilot. He just decided on things and went for them,” said Matt.

As a way of remembering and honouring their son, the Clancy family have carried out a sponsored walk in the stunning Gartan area of Donegal over the past three years. In the process they have raised more than €25,000 for two charity projects in Malawi where Matt worked for many years.