Former Rescue 117 crew member is the first casualty of Helicopter crash off the Co Mayo Coast

A former member of the Rescue 117 Coast Guard Helicopter has been named as the first casualty in this morning’s Helicopter crash off the County Mayo Coast.

45 year old pilot Dara Fitzpatrick has been with the search and rescue service for more than 20 years.

Three other crew members are still missing as the search continues.

She was recovered from the water in a critical condition at first light this morning, some hours after the rescue 116 helicopter disappeared.

Tributes have started to pore in for the deceased pilot.

Gerard O’Flynn, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard said that “Dara is the most senior pilot with CHC – with the company close to 20 years,”.

“Outside of her work as a pilot, she did an enormous amount of work in water safety and was always available to do school visits and highlight basic water safety.

“For all of us involved in the Coast Guard, and particularly her family, it does come as a big shock and we want to extend our sincere sympathies to her sympathy to all her family and indeed to her flying colleagues at CHC.”

The search operation for the other crew members of Rescue 116 is ongoing. The Coast Guard helicopters on scene are being assisted in their search by the Air Corps Casa, RNLI boats, the Naval Services’s LE Róisín, garda divers and local fishing vessels.

Dara Fitzpatrick started working in search and rescue in March 1993, moving from Shannon to Waterford after almost 10 years.

In 2013, she was part of the Coast Guard’s first ever all-female mission alongside her co-pilot Carmel Kirby. She was also filmed for a RTÉ documentary series on Rescue 117 which saw her crew followed for six months.