“We’re gone.”
The final, haunting words of the crew of Rescue 116 before it disappeared off the north coast of Mayo on 14 March, as the preliminary report into the fatal crash was released on Thursday evening.
The report found that data for Blackrock Island did not feature on the helicopter’s onboard warning system; according to the report, the “terrain of the island” was not listed on a terrain database and an Enhanced Ground Positioning Warning System did not have the “lighthouse obstacle” included in an obstacle database.
The final words of the crew were also detailed as follows.
Rear Crew Channel: “K… looking at an island just in, directly ahead of us now guys, you want to come right [Commander’s Name]”
Commander: “OK, come right just confirm?”
Rear Crew Channel: “About… twenty degrees right yeah.”
Commander: “OK Come Right… select heading.”
Co-pilot: “Roger… Heading selected.”
Rear Crew Channel: “Come right now. come right. COME RIGHT.”
Smoke in baggage.
Co-pilot: “[Expletive] OOOHHHH [Expletive].”
Co-pilot “We’re gone.”
The report also found that ‘the helicopter pitched up rapidly, impacted with terrain at the western end of Black Rock and departed from controlled flight.’
The bodies of Captain Dara Fitzpatrick and Captain Mark Duffy were both recovered after the crash, but those of winch operator Paul Ormsby and winch man Ciarán Smith remain lost at sea.
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