The door of an Air Corps helicopter that fell onto the grounds of a school yesterday hit the roof of a building on the way down.
The rear door of the helicopter fell more than 250 meters before landing on the grounds of Moyle Park secondary school in Clondalkin shortly before 6pm yesterday.
It was on its way to refuel at the Baldonnel Aerodrome after transferring a patient to a Dublin hospital when the accident happened.
No-one was injured in the incident.
A Defence Forces spokesperson has confirmed the door hit an “unoccupied building” on the way down and said there was no substantial damage to the structure.
The Defence Forces is carrying out a full investigation and all Air Corps emergency operations are continuing.
It is not the first incident of its kind involving this Air Corps helicopter model - AW139.
It was the same model which lost a door while flying over Killarney golf club in 2009, with a government minister on board.
The then-tourism minister Martin Cullen was being flown back to Dublin when that incident occurred, with the door later found in Killarney National Park.
Reporting from Andrew Lowth
