Another R116 tragedy ‘could happen’

Black Rock lighthouse and the island it stands on were not included in a navigational database used by helicopter R116 and there is no assurance that a similar accident could not happen again.

Graham Liddy, retired head of engineering at the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU), now working as an aviation safety consultant has warned that if there was one obstacle missing off the database used by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter there could be more.

At the time of the fatal crash on March 14, which claimed the lives of Captain Dara Fitzpatrick and Captain Mark Duffy and its crew members Ciarán Smith and Paul Ormsby who are still missing, the helicopter was using an Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System. This is installed with a terrain and obstacle database.