A report into the crash landing of an air ambulance in Tipperary has found that the pilot did not see power lines until it was too late to avoid a collision.
The helicopter was responding to a call from a seriously-ill patient when it came down near Borrisoleigh on June 12th last year.
The chopper was just 20 minutes in the air when it collided with overhead power lines. It came down heavily in a field in Currabaha which is about 6 kilometres from the village of Borrisoleigh in north Tipperary.
A report by a special Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) was published today. It shows that the pilot identified two parallel sets of overhead wires in the selected fields but neither he or the other crew members spotted another set on their final approach.
Failure to do so resulted in the helicopter striking the wires and ultimately having to make the emergency landing.
A paramedic and Garda on the ground had spotted the wires but had no direct communication with the pilot and this was considered a contributory cause.
Witness: Helicopter came down on its belly
The Air Ambulance had only been launched a fortnight before the crash and it had 3 people on board at the time. However none of them were seriously injured and the patient was transferred to hospital by road.
A member of the Garda Síochána witnessed the accident. He told the AAIU "There was a bang and the helicopter came down on its belly, pretty well straight down". "The pilot did some job because the back rudder started to spring up and down, moving before or when it hit the ground, I'm not sure".
"He did seem to lose control but, thankfully, he did some job to land it". "Everything seemed fine on the approach, until they hit the cable and the bang..it seemed to be shaking. The job to get it down was something else" the guard added.
