A senior aviation expert with Britain’s Coastguard has been appointed to a review of aspects of the unpublished investigation into the Rescue 116 helicopter crash off the north Mayo coast three years ago, The Sunday Times reports.
Philip Hanson, aviation technical assurance manager with the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), will work with senior counsel Patrick McCann on a review board established last week by Minister for Transport Shane Ross.
Mr Hanson has been in the aviation industry all his life - with the British defence ministry and British Coastguard latterly.
The review into aspects of the draft final report on the deaths of Capt Dara Fitzpatrick, Capt Mark Duffy, and winch crew Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith was agreed to by Minister for Transport Shane Ross in January, after it was sought by one unidentified stakeholder.
The four air/sea rescue helicopter crew were providing “top cover” communication for the medical evacuation of a crewman from a British-registered fishing vessel when their Sikorsky S-92 hit Blackrock island off north Mayo in the early hours of March 14th, 2017.
However, the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA) is furious with the further delay in releasing the report, and questions the legality of a review board at this stage.
The Department of Transport says it “rejects out-of-hand” the union’s “assertion”.
The bodies of the helicopter’s two winch crew have not been found to date in spite of extensive searches. Prayers were due to be said at a memorial Mass in north Mayo, but had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus.
The Irish Coast Guard’s Dublin base remembered the four with a heart-shaped “signature” in the sky last week, depicted on-screen on its automatic identification.
“We are ok, but just ok” the Irish Coast Guard Dun Laoghaire Facebook page said, summing up how most Irish Coast Guard personnel feel three years on.
See more on The Sunday Times report here