A new investigation by RTÉ has revealed that repeated warnings that the life jackets on board Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 were “not fit for purpose” were ignored for up to five years before it crashed in March.
Blackrock man Mark Duffy was amongst the four crew who died when the helicopter crashed into Blackrock Island off the Co Mayo coast in March. Captain Dara Fitzpatrick’s body was also found while winch operator Paul Ormsby and winch man Ciaran Smith remain lost at sea.
According to a new report today pilots had warned CHC Ireland who run the service that the personal locator beacons on the life jackets were not installed according to the beacon manufacturer’s guidelines and would not work.
One pilot warned that unless the life jackets were modified to address this fault “pilots are wholly exposed in the event of a ditching”.
The beacon manufacturer advised that the beacon should be located at least 30cm apart from the GPS antenna. However, in the pilots’ life jackets both elements were in the same pouch.
A safety report filed by a crew member in 2014 stated: “Effectively this means that the beacon could produce absolutely zero receivable transmissions.”
The Air Accident Investigation Unit issued a preliminary report four weeks after the crash, which identified this crucial issue and issued a safety recommendation to the life jacket manufacturer to review the installation of this equipment.
A report to be broadcast on RTÉ’s Prime Time tonight reveals internal documents that show that the operator CHC was aware of this fault for at least five years before the accident.
When Rescue 116 crashed, none of the personal locator beacons worn by the four crew members activated.
Tonight’s Prime Time report will also reveal that Coast Guard helicopter crews repeatedly raised concerns about the quality and accuracy of the maps on board their helicopters.
Since the Rescue 116 crash, it has become known that that the island the helicopter crashed into was not in the database of a key safety system.
The Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning system is designed to warn pilots if they get too close to terrain or an obstacle.
It has also been reported that CHC management had been told that this was missing from that database three years previously.
Watch tonight’s Prime Time for the full story or check out the full RTÉ article here.