Walkers pictured on Thursday last at the site where Rescue 111 crashed on July 2nd 1999.
Captain Dave O’Flaherty (aged 30, Lucan), Captain Michael Baker (28, Wexford), Sergeant Paddy Mooney (35, Meath) and Corporal Niall Byrne (25, Dublin) lost their lives when their Dauphin helicopter came down in dense fog, the first Air Corps helicopter to crash in active service in the State’s history.
The Dauphin helicopter had attempted to land at nearby Waterford Airport on three occasions prior to the tragedy in what was its first full day as an operational 24-hour air Search And Rescue service for the region.
But the extent of the foggy conditions that night led to three aborted attempts to return to base, and, sadly, we know what sadly transpired thereafter.
On his Facebook page last week, current City & County Councillor Eddie Mulligan, who is a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve, recalled: “I’ll never forget being at sea off the Cork coast in dense fog when just before midnight I received a call from Senior Duty Officer Naval Operations that Air Corps Helicopter D248, was not responding to radio calls with a last known position Tramore Bay.
“The worst was feared and I ordered immediate deployment (of the) Naval Diving Team, informed the Captain and made best speed toward Tramore.
“Knowing that Cadet classmate and friend Mick Baker and Dave O’Flaherty from my senior Cadet Class were on board, the hairs rose on the back of my neck when I heard the Mayday relay by Rosslare Radio just after midnight.
“My worst thoughts were confirmed when wreckage was located at 1am approximately. Please spare a prayer and thought today for Patrick Mooney, Niall Byrne, Dave O’Flaherty and Michael Baker who tragically died, as the memorial in Dunmore so appropriately says, ‘in the service of others’. RIP guys. We remember your bravery.”
The cyclical nature of politics is enough to make one despair at times, all the more so when you consider that July 1999 was the first time that 24-hour SAR cover was provided for the south east and southern coast. As late as that.
Fast forward to the spring of 2010 and the Fianna Fáil-led government, by then operating with precious little wisdom, when Transport Minister Noel Dempsey announced that 24-hour SAR provision was set to be withdrawn from Waterford Airport.
The grief catalysed by the loss of the Rescue 111 crew in 1999 was, 11 years later, equalled by the level of public mystification and incredulity at the ludicrousness of Noel Dempsey’s intended policy.
The notion of a SAR service operating only in daylight hours made about as much sense as most FF ministers did in the concluding months of that inept administration.
The campaign to see the 24-hour service retained for the entire south coast (that’s one big back yard if one considered it in ‘NIMBY’ terms) was, in hindsight, the first significant Facebook-led campaign on a major public issue in this region.
A page set up to save the service attracted 28,000 followers and, as local Oireachtas members felt the heat on the matter, Minister Dempsey was forced into a u-turn, and no-one has dared suggest so stupid a proposal in the interim.
In a country where it’s sometimes impossible to ignore the disconnect between the ruling class and the ordinary citizen, this represented a rare victory for people power. And it shouldn’t take elections for us to be listened to a little bit more by those ‘on high’. But that tends to be our lot, as things stand.
The Sikorsky S61 craft that ultimately replaced the Dauphin patrolled the skies of Waterford and neighbouring counties for over a decade, before it in turn was withdrawn from service and replaced by ‘Cara na Mara’, a Sikorsky S92 in March of last year.
This hi-spec ‘flying ambulance’ comes with a top speed of 185 kilometres per hour, has an operational range of 500 kilometres, can fly at a higher altitude, operate in more testing weather than the S61 and can carry more crew/casualties.
In 2014 alone, the Coast Guard performed 253 aeromedical missions along with 159 offshore island medical evacuations, many of them, it goes without saying, after dark. Value for money? Damn straight. And worth every penny of it.
Rescue 117 has frequently ferried hillwalkers in difficulty off the Comeragh Mountains, the Knockmealdowns and other ranges across the region and represents an indispensible regional service.
In as much as one would immediately feel a certain level of concern when one sees the distinctive red and white livery of R117 in the skies above (don’t forget the importance of training exercises as well), I feel a sense of relief when I see it airborne.
To know there is such a high quality SAR aircraft (worth €40 million) based in Waterford, serving the wider region, is tremendous reassuring.
To know it is staffed by a highly-skilled, engaged and empathetic crew, having had the pleasure of meeting them on several occasions over the years, again fills me with gratitude.
From time to time, we are all probably a little guilty of taking the men and women of our emergency services for granted and when tragedy strikes, as it did in Tramore 16 years ago, we get a shocking reminder of the risk involved every time the SAR service takes off. We owe such crews, be they alive or dead, a great debt. And we must never lose sight of that.
