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CHAPTER CHATTER, EAA Chapter 78 14

Irish Coast Guard S-92 helicopter

crashes with four on board (03.14.2017)

Capt. Dara Fitzpatrick, left, was the first victim of the Irish Coast Guard S-
92 crash to be identified. She is shown here with Capt. Carmel Kirby in
2013 when they flew as the Coast Guard’s first all-female SAR flight
crew. Irish Coast Guard Photo

An Irish Coast Guard search-and-rescue (SAR)
Sikorsky S-92, operated by CHC Ireland, has
crashed off the west coast of Ireland.

Contact was lost with Dublin-based Rescue 116 at
approximately 1 a.m. on March 14. The aircraft, with
four crewmembers on board, was providing top cover
for another Irish Coast Guard S-92, Rescue 118, as it
conducted a medical evacuation from a U.K.-registered
fishing vessel approximately 150 miles west of Eagle
Island in county Mayo. When flying into the Essex County Airport (KCDW) in
Caldwell, NJ., be on the look-out for that huge antenna
The Coast Guard has launched a major sea search on George Schultheis (EAA Chapter 73 & 78) pickup
operation off the county Mayo coast approximately six truck! It could make your landing a bit challenging!
miles west of Blacksod. Two SAR helicopters as well
as a number of vessels have been searching for the
missing crewmembers.

The first crewmember to be recovered from the sea,
senior pilot Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, was pronounced
dead in the hospital, according to news reports. Other
crewmembers were identified as chief pilot Mark Duffy
and winchmen Paul Ormsby and Ciaran Smith.