Investigators 'concerned' by fatal air crash search delay

Investigators probing a helicopter crash that killed a flying instructor and his student revealed today they are concerned the aircraft was missing overnight before anyone noticed.

Colm Clancy and his trainee Dermot Sheridan died when the aircraft hit electrical lines and plunged into a remote bog in Co Kildare on the evening of April 1.

A search was launched the following morning when a worried family member contacted Weston Airport, west of Dublin, where the pair took off.

Air accident investigator Leo Murray said there was concern over the amount of time that had elapsed before the helicopter was notified as missing.

The flight planning process and requirements associated with the accident flight will be examined, he added.

Mr Clancy, 34, from Derrybeg, in west Donegal – an instructor with the European Helicopter Academy – and Mr Sheridan, 24, of Ardnacrusha, Co Clare, just outside Limerick city, took off at 5pm for a 90-minute lesson.

They last made radio contact 12 minutes later and failed to return that evening.

It is believed the Schweizer 300CBi plunged into the isolated Bog of Allen in the midlands 35 minutes later – the same time when a watch belonging to one of the men stopped when the battery possibly fell on impact.

The wreckage was located around noon the next day in bog land near Kilshanchoe, near the Kildare-Meath border, by the Coast Guard rescue helicopter which followed the helicopter’s known flight path.

Their bodies were removed while the wreckage was escorted to Gormanston, Co Meath, for examination.

Mr Murray said preliminary investigation revealed the helicopter had struck unpowered electrical transmission lines and impacted in an area of machined bog land.

Weather was not a factor, found Mr Murray.

“The investigation is currently examining all engineering and operational aspects of the flight, including what exercise was being carried out at the time of the accident,” he added.

“The investigation is concerned over the amount of time that had elapsed before the helicopter was notified as missing and will therefore be examining the flight planning process and requirements associated with the accident flight.”

A final report will be published when the probe is fully complete.