Mournes air crash recalled

Mournes air crash recalled

29 February 2012 - by JOANNE FLEMING

A DOWNPATRICK man has been recalling his part in the tragic discovery of a crashed helicopter in the Mourne Mountains.

Jim Milligan was walking in the Mournes on the afternoon of October 23, 2010, when he heard the crash and tried to locate the aircraft.

He was among four walkers that day who recently gave evidence to an inquest into the deaths of three men — Charles Stisted, a friend of the Prince of Wales, Ian Wooldridge, and pilot Anthony Smith. From England, they had been on a shooting party visit to Northern Ireland.

A jury at Belfast Coroner’s Court ruled on Thursday, in the absence of any conclusive evidence, that Captain Smith “encountered unpredictable and rapidly changing weather conditions resulting in a sudden and unexpected impact with the mountain”.

Originally from Ballynoe but now living in Ballyclare, Jim was at Pierce’s Castle in the Mournes when the helicopter came down nearby in the area known locally as Leitrim Lodge, between Hilltown and Rostrevor.

Recalling that weather conditions were increasingly poor throughout the morning, Jim remembers hearing a “loud dull thud” shortly after 3.30pm and going to investigate.

“I had been at the top of Pierce’s Castle and was just coming down when I heard a helicopter approaching getting louder and louder, incredibly loud,” he said. “I remember thinking I hope that guy has his navigation equipment on.”

When he heard a “loud, dull impact” shortly afterwards, Jim therefore knew he was looking for a crash scene amid the low level cloud surrounding him.

“I saw a figure running and we both ran down to each other thinking it was somebody from the aircraft,” he said. “We more of less realised we had heard the same thing, though others also heard sharp bangs after the loud impact, which may have been cartridges from the shooting trip.

“He had left his two friends below and they had come up to meet us. One of them had a mobile phone and was able to contact the emergency services.

“I thought we should take a look round and see if there is any smoke and we decided to split into pairs to investigate.” Now closer to where they estimated the crash was, they headed in the direction of Batt’s Wall and climbed over it, soon alerted by the smell of the crash scene.

“It was a scene of total devastation,” said Jim. “I could just see very small fragments. I also saw a larger chunk on fire.

“I thought no-one could survive this. At the same time I was shouting ‘Can anybody hear me’.

“I told myself I might come across a body and had to prepare for that but there was no sign of anything. I looked down and saw a small black bag, a bathroom bag which contained a razor and shaving gear. I had to ask myself, ‘is this really happening?’ I had to remind myself this was not a film.”

Eventually Jim did come across a series of small body parts and knew for certain there could be no sign of life.

“With Sean, one of the walkers, phoning 999 there were several phone calls between ourselves and the emergency services varying between getting us to stay where we were and coming down to guide the emergency services to the scene.”

With short statements taken from them, and having been checked over by the Ambulance crew the four were allowed to go, later providing investigators with more detailed accounts of their movements.

“It has not been a time you could forget,” said Jim, reflecting on the impact of witnessing such a tragedy. “I could not get it out of my head for a couple of weeks.”

The inquest jury noted this week that the crash may have been avoided if a ground proximity warning system had been in operation. They also suggest databases used by pilots be regularly updated to reflect the latest aviation charts, and that manufacturers of navigation maps extend the range of terrain altitudes.

Jim agrees with their suggestions. As an experienced walker he has seen helicopters before in the Mournes, but says there has always been good visibility at the time.

“The blatantly obvious thing was the visibility,” he said. “The cloud was very low. Why were they not higher than the mountain? I think the issue could have been that its quite cold if you get too high and the runner could ice up.

“I would certainly appeal to anyone with any doubts about the weather or visibility in the Mournes not to travel there.”