Latest: Search operation for Rescue 116 Coast Guard crew finishes, to resume in morning
Efforts to locate the missing Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 have finished for the evening.
- Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, who was recovered critically ill on Tuesday, later died in hospital. She is survived by her three-year-old son;
- The three missing crew members are Mark Duffy, Ciarán Smith and Paul Ormsby;
- A search operation for the missing Coast Guard helicopter and crew members has finished for the evening;
- A signal from the aircraft's black box was picked up yesterday;
- Weather conditions are bad;
- Navy divers and Garda divers assessing suitable locations to dive;
- The Air Corps was initially asked to provide top cover for the mission missing helicopter Rescue 116 was sent on.
Efforts to locate the missing Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 have finished for the evening.
The air, sea and shorline search will resume at first light tomorrow.
Today's operation was hampered by poor weather conditions off the west coast.
Weather conditions have hampered the operation today.
After the detection of a black box signal off the coast of Co Mayo was hailed as a significant development, large Atlantic swells have delivered a setback to search teams.
Declan Geoghegan, of the Irish Coast Guard, said scanning for the wreck of the crashed Sikorsky S92 helicopter had to be abandoned for much of today - the third day of the operation.
The search is centred around Blackrock Lighthouse - around 13km offshore from Blacksod, where the aircraft was intended to land to refuel early on Tuesday morning moments before it disappeared without warning.
Describing the swell around the lighthouse as "horrendous", Mr Geoghegan added: "The outlook for the next 24 hours is not great."
The company that manufactured the helicoper which went missing on Tuesday has issued a statement about the crew of Rescue 116.
CHC say they are "devastated by the loss of Captain Dara Fitzpatrick" and they "stand with the families of our remaining three crew members awaiting news of their loved ones."
With the permission of the crew members' families, CHC has shared some information about Paul Ormsby, Mark Duffy, Ciaran Smith, and Dara Fitzpatrick.
"The four crew who were on board Rescue 116 are all long-term CHC people with a combined service of over 70 years.
"All highly experienced and highly valued members of our team.We would like to begin with our three missing crew," they said.
Some of our SAR crews in Australia shared these images in support of #Rescue116 and their CHC family in Ireland. pic.twitter.com/LRETe3uWZh
— CHC Helicopter (@CHCHelicopter) March 16, 2017
CHC has established an email address - Rescue116@chcheli.com - for members of the public to send messages of support, condolences and photographs to the crew's families.
Winch Operator Paul Ormsby - 53 years old
"Paul joined us in 1998 and has nearly two decades of experience as a winch operator with CHC. A consummate professional, he approaches the role without fear or favour for who he is rescuing.
"Paul received commendations for a rescue in 2000 of 17 Spanish and Portuguese sailors who got into difficulty off the coast of Clare in 2000.
"His rescue team winched 13 of the sailors from their stricken vessel before depositing them safely in the nearby Shannon base."
Captain Mark Duffy - 51 years old
"Mark is highly skilled and professional rescue pilot with more than 15 years of service. He joined CHC in 2001 after working with the Californian Coast Guard for seven years.
"An experienced SAR pilot, he started flying rescue mission with the Dublin-based crew in 2002.
"He lives in Blackrock co. Louth, with his wife Hermione and two children and is well known for his commitment to his community work, including regular visits to schools."
Winch Operator Ciarán Smith - 38 years old
"Ciarán joined CHC in 2004. He is an experienced winch operator and former member of the Irish Air Corps.
"In 2003, during his time with the Air Corps, Ciarán received a Marine Bronze Medal for Meritorious Service for the role he played in a rescue of a man off the coast of Antrim.
"Ciarán lives in Oldtown, County Dublin, with his wife Martina and their three children.
"A keen cyclist, he is also known in his community for raising funds for charities close to his heart through participation in charity rides.
Captain Dara Fitzpatrick - 45 years old
"Dara joined CHC in 1993. Dara was a senior pilot with more than 25 years of experience in SAR flying. She was a passionate and public advocate for the service.
"She was one of the first women to pilot an aircraft for the Irish Marine Emergency Services, precursor to the Coast Guard. She was initially stationed at Shannon, then went onto the Waterford base before moving to the Dublin-based team.
"She played a key role in several high-profile rescue missions over the last two decades, and received an award for rescuing a pilot whose plane crashed into the Irish Sea in 2010.
"Dara was a member of the Coast Guard’s first all-female pilot crew in 2013 which transferred a critically ill child from Cork University Hospital to Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin.
"She has a young son."
Efforts to locate the missing Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 are continuing this evening.
The search has been hampered by poor weather conditions off the west coast today.
A ping from the aircraft's black box was picked up yesterday afternoon and investigators are hoping it will lead them to the suspected crash site.
Surface and shoreline searches have been taking place but there has been no diving because of the swell.
The weather isn't expected to improve until late Saturday or early Sunday but it is expected the surface searches will continue until it gets dark tonight.
New hi-tech equipment has been brought in from the UK to help in the search.
A black box signal has been detected by the search team, which is helping to pinpoint the location of the suspected crash site off the Mayo coast.
The Coast Guard's Gerard O'Flynn says getting a signal from the flight recorder was a major breakthrough.
"Well the significant progress yesterday was the detection of the signal from the aircraft's black box.
"The next phase is to locate it in order to carry out a visual inspection through diving or through other remote equipment, to see if the device is still with a significant part of the aircraft or whether it is on it's own."
It has emerged the Air Corps was initially asked to provide top cover for the mission missing helicopter Rescue 116 was sent on.
The Defence Forces confirmed to Newstalk Breakfast they could not provide an aircraft outside of normal hours, due to a loss of experienced personnel.
At 10.06pm on Monday night the Irish Air Corps received a request from the coast guard to provide top cover for a long range medical evacuation off the west coast.
They replied that it was not possible to provide fixed wing aircraft cover outside of normal hours.
They have confirmed to Newstalk Breakfast that this is because of a loss of experienced personnel among both air crew and air traffic control.
The Rescue 116 helicopter was subsequently sent to provide top cover for the mission.
The Defence Forces say at 1.45am they then received an emergency request to conduct a search for the helicopter, which had gone missing.
They initiated a recall plan and were able to provide a Casa aircraft to assist in the search and rescue operation.
The air corps have noted plans are in place to deal with the shortage in personnel, however it meant they were unable to provide cover the night Rescue 116 was dispatched.
Captain Dara Fitzpatrick was recovered from the water on Tuesday morning, but later passed away.
The search for three crew members of the helicopter still missing is now entering its third day.
Defence Analyst Declan Power says it would take time to properly staff the Air Corps for missions at irregular hours.
"You can just recruit overnight.
"It takes two to five years to get somebody to the standard of being a pilot of a Casa, or to be an air traffic control officer, or various other specialisms that exist within the Air Corps."
The resourcing and staffing levels of the Air Corps was raised in the Dáil last month with the Taoiseach admitting it was leading to the grounding of aircraft.
It emerged this morning that the Air Corps was initially asked to provide top cover for the coastguard mission on Monday night but as no crew was available Rescue 116 had to be dispatched instead.
The Government has also admitted that the staffing shortage in the Air Corps has led to reduced availability of aircraft for the transfer of patients to hospitals for transplants.
Bad weather could hamper the continuing search for three missing crew members from Coast Guard Rescue 116.
A black box signal has been detected by the search team, which is helping to pinpoint the location of the suspected crash site off the Mayo coast.
The LÉ Eithne maintained a position near Blacksod overnight and the search is due to resume at first light.
However conditions are too rough to send in divers, and the Coast Guard's Gerard O'Flynn says the forecast is not great.
"The weather outlook is challenging and it does not look good. I would be fearful at this point that it could hamper operations, the forecast is bad through the weekend.
"That is going to be a particular challenge and unfortunately could lead to some delays, but as the day goes by it will be more evident how much progress can be made."
Met Éireann has a small craft warning in place, and heavy swells expected on the west coast at times today.
