Mystery around Waterford plane crash as tragic pilot's identity sparks Interpol probe
The victim appears to have been the sole occupant of the plane, according to An Garda Siochana(Image: Jim Campbell)Gardai are liaising with Interpol to try and find the next of kin of a pilot killed in a horrific plane crash in Co Waterford.The pilot, who was the sole occupant of the private Vulcanair P68C plane, died after it crashed into a field close to Waterford Airport on Thursday.Investigators now suspect that the pilot is not an Irish citizen - and gardai have reached out to Interpol in an effort to contact foreign police forces in an effort to find the man’s family.The efforts come as members of the Air Accident Investigation Unit begin their inquiries to try and establish the cause of the crash - which occurred after the flight had taken off from Sligo earlier in the day.The privately-owned plane was scheduled to land in Beziers, in France, when it turned around off the south coast of Ireland and headed back towards Waterford Airport.On Friday the wreckage was removed from the scene by a forklift and a flatbed truck - which took it to an AAIU wreckage facility in Gormanstown, Co Meath.It comes as an expert has stated that weather is not believed to have been a factor in the crash.Airport official Kevin Byrne, a retired lieutenant colonel, airport safety and security auditor, told RTE’s Morning Ireland: “From the impact damage I've seen in the photographs, this was a high-speed impact. Something seriously went wrong within sight of the airport. The weather conditions are not a factor here yesterday, because it was a fantastic day.“So the conditions were perfect for flying at any altitude, really and any distance. So I don't know what elements were involved in that, but it wasn't weather as a factor..Asked how such an incident would be investigated, Mr Byrne said he had “every faith” in the four AAIU representatives who have begun proceedings."They will look at the impact damage. They have drones now available and they've got other methods of recording the field debris, in other words, what happened with the aircraft."And the pilot of course, will be taken away for a post-mortem examination when it's safe to do so.“The problem with the investigation in this case is that the aircraft is too small to have a requirement for a cockpit voice recorder. A flight data recorder is very unusual to have on an aircraft that size."But they will analyse the communications between air traffic and the pilot. They will look at all the factors as regards the maintenance of the aircraft and fuelling, and that kind of thing, and they go into details of what the qualifications of the pilot as well."And I have every faith that they will come up with some kind of a report within 30 days, and the final report then takes probably about a year, within which they'll have a final report on this.”Sign up to our new Crime Ireland newsletter and get exclusive content from Michael O'Toole and Paul HealyThe Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every weekEmergency responders including rescue helicopters and police rushed to the scene at Lisselan near Tramore, Co Waterford, after the light civil aircraft crashed at approximately 12.50pm on Thursday. Air crash investigators described the plane as a "twin-engined general aviation aircraft".The Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) of the Department of Transport deployed four air accident inspectors to the site.Sinn Fein TD for Waterford David Cullinane said the crash was a "shock" to the local area, adding that the community’s thoughts are with whoever was on the plane.Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
