Helicopter 'plunged into sea after contacting base'

A Royal Navy helicopter plunged into the sea during a search and rescue mission less than two minutes after it established contact with its base, an inquest heard today.

The four-strong crew on board the Lynx Mark 3 helicopter were all found dead after the tragic incident off the Cornish coast on 8 December 2004.

A jury inquest at East Somerset Coroner's Court, in Wells, heard the aircraft, based at RNAS Yeovilton, in Somerset, was responding to a "man overboard" call when it lost contact.

The bodies of Lt David Cole, 34, Lt Robert Dunn, 29, both from Dorset, Lt Jamie Mitchell, 29, from Dundee and LAEM Richard Darnell, 31, from Torquay, were recovered from the aircraft, which was later found on the seabed.

Opening the hearing, coroner Tony Williams said the Mark 3 Lynx was involved in training exercises at sea, flying to and from Type 23 frigate HMS Portland.

It was during a warfare exercise that it received a "real" man overboard report from nearby HMS Montrose.

Mr Williams said: "The Lynx was on deck when information was received of a real 'man overboard' situation. Everyone knew it was not part of a flying exercise. A report of the possible man overboard was reported on HMS Montrose to the west.

"It was decided to relaunch the Lynx to give assistance."

The coroner said the aircraft "re-rolled" from an anti-submarine set-up to a search and rescue set-up.

He went on: "Two men joined the crew of the Lynx - in addition to Robert Dunn and Jamie Mitchell, David Cole, who was a flight commander with search and rescue experience, joined as an observer and captain, and Richard Darnell joined as a winchman.

"At 6.20pm it headed west towards the scene of the search."

At 7.02pm and 54 seconds communication was received from the Lynx Mark 3 crew - confirming its location height of 100 feet, the coroner said.

But at 7.03pm and 30 seconds the Lynx suddenly "disappeared from the radar".

Mr Williams said: "The wreckage of the helicopter was found on the seabed. The bulk was found upright on the seabed.

"The crash was too heavy for the helicopter's anti-floating mechanism to self activate."

He added: "The bodies of the four men were recovered and taken to Yeovil District Hospital. The helicopter was recovered from the sea bed and was brought to Yeovilton for an investigation to be carried out. This investigation took two and a half years."

Flight Commander Philip Thornton told the jury the helicopter descended from 400ft to 100ft and decelerated from 64 knots to 10 knots groundspeed.

He said 400ft and 100ft were normal operating altitudes.

Asked if the deceleration indicated any problem with the aircraft, he replied: "There's no evidence there was any problems with the aircraft at that stage."

HMS Portland and HMS Montrose were both involved in training exercises in December 2004, along with two other ships, HMS St Albans and HMS Sutherland.

All personnel were accounted for after a roll-call, the jury was told.

A board of inquiry (BOI) investigated the incident, and a separate investigation was launched by the Royal Navy Flight Safety and Accident Investigation Centre, the jury was told.

The inquest in Wells, Somerset is due to last for two weeks.

Mr Williams asked Flt Comm Thornton whether or not the Lynx Mark 3 "dropped from the sky".

Flt Comm Thornton said, looking at the technical data, it was likely the aircraft plummeted vertically before it hit the water.

He said: "When an aircraft flies into the sea, we normally get a scattering of wreckage. This was not the case. All the wreckage was together which indicated to us that the aircraft had come straight down into the water.

"It had impacted the water with a large vertical course.

"The aircraft would not have been on the water's surface for very long at all. It would have sunk virtually immediately."

Post mortem results showed Lt Cole, Lt Dunn and LAEM Darnell all died from multiple injuries, the jury heard.

But the post mortem found Lt Mitchell's cause of death to be drowning and multiple injuries, Mr Williams said.

The coroner said: "There was some evidence that Lt Mitchell had been able to release himself from the helicopter. It's difficult to put a time scale because he may well have died from the multiple injuries if he had not drowned before."

Addressing Mr Cole's parents and fiance and Mr Darnell's parents, Mr Williams added: "Families sometimes take comfort from post mortem results.

"For Lt Cole, Lt Dunn and Mr Darnell, the information seems to suggest the deaths were instantaneous.

"With Lt Mitchell there may have been a little delay, but death came very quickly to all four of them."

The inquest was adjourned until tomorrow.