Shortly after midnight on 02 July 1999, a Eurocopter Dauphin search and rescue helicopter operated by the Irish Air Corps crashed into the sand dunes behind Tramore beach in Co. Waterford while returning from a mission. All four crew aboard were killed. The helicopter had attempted to land at its base in nearby Waterford Airport, but was unable to due to heavy fog.
Background
Thursday 01 July 1999 was the first day that a 24-hour helicopter search and rescue service was provided from Waterford Airport. The airport is located near the coast, just north of the large beach at Tramore. The Irish Air Corps was contracted to provide the service on behalf of the Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES; now known as the Irish Coast Guard). The helicopter (callsign Rescue 111) was a Eurocopter AS365Fi Dauphin, which had flown in from the Air Corps base at Casement Aerodrome in County Dublin that morning with a crew of 7 on board - 4 flying crew and 3 technical crew.
After arrival at Waterford, the helicopter completed a publicity flight with a TV crew from RTÉ. Later that afternoon the helicopter completed a training flight at sea, and a brief reconnaissance of the landing facilities at Waterford Regional Hospital. The aircraft was washed down and refuelled, and the crew left for their overnight accommodation at 5:15pm.
The four flying crew members were aircraft commander Captain Dave O'Flaherty (age 30), co-pilot Captain Mick Baker (age 28), winch operator Sergeant Pat Mooney (age 34) and winchman Corporal Niall Byrne (age 25).
Mission
Around 8:00pm that evening, the Realt Or, a 4.5 metre pleasure boat, left from Dungarvan harbour on a fishing trip with 4 men and a young boy aboard. It encountered heavy fog and was unable to navigate back to the harbour. The skipper contacted IMES by mobile phone and requested assistance. He had a marine VHF radio, but did not know how to operate it.
The IMES Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) at Rosslare contacted Cpt. O'Flaherty at 10:02pm to task the helicopter. The inshore lifeboat based at Helvick Head had also been tasked, but as the Helvick lifeboat did not have radar, the helicopter was asked to assist in locating the casualty vessel. By 10:42pm Rescue 111 was airborne and headed towards the search area.
At 10:53pm the Rescue 111 was informed that the larger radar-equipped lifeboat at Ballycotton had also been tasked to assist in the search. By 11:00pm the Helvick lifeboat had found the casualty vessel and was starting to tow it to Helvick Pier. Below is an extract of the exchanges between the co-ordination centre and Rescue 111:
MRCC: Helvick Lifeboat has now located the casualty at the following position: 5204.29 and 00729.08, and he is taking him in tow. Ah if the visibility is satisfactory there we’d like you to continue to that position and maybe just monitor it for a while.
R111: Roger we're going to route to that position. We’re going to maintain Five hundred feet overhead the target area. We're still in a lot of cloud, a lot of fog here. We'll remain overhead and if they get into trouble at any stage, we'll, we will descend to the scene, over.
After Rescue 111 arrived on scene, the lifeboat reported that its GPS was not working properly and requested navigational assistance as it towed the casualty vessel back to Helvick Pier. Rescue 111 provided a compass heading towards the pier. At 11:51pm the control tower at Waterford Airport contacted Rescue 111 to warn of worsening fog.
Tower: Yeah, just to inform you, weather deteriorating slightly here. Just to let you know.
R111: Roger, copied that er … can you see the lights of Tramore at all?
Tower: Negative, we can just about hardly see the runway which is a distance of 300 metres from the Tower.Rescue 111 then requested to be released to return to base. The Helvick lifeboat was less than 1.5 miles from the pier and the radar-equipped Ballycotton lifeboat was standing by to assist.
R111: Rosslare Radio, this is Rescue 111, we're looking for permission to route towards Waterford Airport at this time, the conditions there are deteriorating, we'd like to get in before they close, over.
MRCC: Rescue 111, Rosslare Radio, you can be released and thank you for your help and your co-operation, over.
Helvick Lifeboat: Rescue 111, this is Helvick Lifeboat, thanks for your assistance, have a safe passage home now, over.
R111: Roger, thank you for that, safe passage yourself, over
Attempted landing and crash
Rescue 111 headed for Waterford Airport at 11:54pm. By 12:12am it was 2.5 nautical miles from the airport. It approached on a heading for Runway 21, approaching over land from the north.