against either the EuroNav moving map or the EGPWS database, and could also be superimposed on any num- ber of marine, topographic, or aeronautic charts or even on road maps displayed on a laptop at the SAR opera- tor’s console.
The Flight R116 took off from Runway 16 of Dublin Airport (EIDW) at 11:02 pm, turning to a heading of 300 degrees. After handoff, Dublin Departure assigned a heading of 270. The helicopter climbed to 3,000 ft. and was handed off to the lower-north sector of the Dublin Area Control Centre (ACC). At 11:11, a member of the rear crew made radio contact with R118, about to land at Blacksod. They reported conditions at the pad as “fine … kind of some low cloud approximately 500 ft. up to the north while we were inbound through Broadhaven Bay.” Two minutes later, R116 turned direct to Sligo; the
crew then began calculating whether stopping at Blacksod instead would offer a time or fuel advantage. After double-checking computations showing that doing so would save 30 minutes and 700 lb. of fuel, they advised the Malin MRSC and Dublin ACC at 11:20 of a change in destination. Dublin handed them off to the north sector of the Shannon ACC, which confirmed the helicopter was operating under IFR, would shortly climb to 4,000 ft., and was going to Blacksod rather than Sligo. After R116 leveled at 4,000 ft., the pilot told the crew
she was entering the APBSS (approach to Blacksod from the south) routing into the FMS. Initial radio contact with the helipad elicited a report of west-southwest winds of 25 to 33 kt. and 2 nm visibility under ceilings of 300 to 500 ft. The pilots initiated the DVE approach checklist as the helicopter crossed the Mayo coast westbound at 4,000 ft. Having confirmed that the ship was over open water and the DVE checklist was complete, the pilot switched the FMS to altitude preselect to descend to 2,400 ft. The copilot advised Shannon of their descent and was instructed to report again when airborne. On reaching 2,400 ft., the pilot requested the APP1
approach profile, which commanded a 500-ft.-per-minute (fpm) descent to 200 ft. as measured by the radar altim- eter while reducing airspeed to 90 kt. Descending through 2,000 ft., R116 crossed BLKMO, the initial way- point on the APBSS arrival route. As Ireland’s Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) noted in its report, “BLKMO was almost coincident with Black Rock.” The pilot turned 10 degrees right to facilitate turning
back onto the approach route. Descending through 700 ft., she asked the copilot to “confirm that we’re
MARCH 2022 ROTOR 63
clear on radar and EGPWS.” The copilot responded, “You are clear ahead on … 10-mile range.” After leveling off at 200 ft., the copilot turned the heading bug from 291 to 137 degrees over the course of 14 seconds to direct the aircraft back toward BLKMO. Strong southwesterly winds tightened the turn, and the pilots slowed to 75 kt. airspeed in anticipation of the tail- wind. They switched the FMS back to “NAV … or Search” mode and completed the landing checklist, the pilot interrupting the final step to report visual contact with the ocean. At 12:45:37, the copilot called out “small targets at six
miles, 11 o’clock … large out there to the right.” Three seconds later, an altitude alert caused the FMS to first climb and then descend at 125 fpm as they crossed a pair of rocks that reduced radar altitude to 171 ft. The captain said, “There’s just a small little island that’s BLKMO itself.” At 12:45:56, the winchman said he was “looking at an island directly ahead of us now, you guys; you wanna come right.” The helicopter was closing on BLKMO at a groundspeed of 90 kt. The captain asked for confirma- tion: “OK, come right; confirm?” and the winchman responded, “20 degrees right, yeah.” The captain instructed the copilot to “come right, select heading … select heading.” At 12:46:04, the copilot replied, “Roger … heading
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