Twelve month wait for air crash report

Date Published: 03-Jul-2008

THE investigation into the aircraft crash in which two people were killed at Inverin airstrip in Connemara has still not been completed despite the fact that it is now exactly a year since the accident.

A spokesperson in the Air Accident Investigation unit in the Department of Transport said that the work was still ongoing and he could not give a date for the finalisation of the investigation.

Meanwhile an anniversary Mass for the dead and injured is to be said in Clifden Church this Sunday at 11am.

The accident in Inverin happened on July 5 last year when the Cessna Caravan one engined plane crashed close to the airstrip as it returned from Inis Meáin in the Aran Island.

The two people who lost their lives were pilot Matt Masterson from Dublin and Paul McNamee, a man well known in Galway sporting circles who had an accountancy business in Loughrea. Six more people on board received injuries ranging from minor to critical.

The majority of the people on board were from the Clifden area and some were associated with the efforts to develop an airstrip in West Connemara. It is understood that contact was afoot about
the purchase of the plane.

It is understood that it had been brought from Dublin so that it could be viewed and assessed.

However, a spokesperson for the Clifden and West Connemara Airport company stated publicly in the aftermath of the crash that the company was not associated with the efforts to purchase the ill fated plane.

In the aftermath of the crash in transpired that fate took a hand in the travel arrangements.

The chairman and secretary of the Clifden and West Connemara Airport – Paul Hughes
and J.J. Mannion – left Inis Meáin earlier as they had to be back in Clifden for the Airport company AGM later in the day. They travelled back on an Aer Arann flight as they could not wait for the other
group.

Some of those injured are continuing to receive medical treatment as a result of the accident.

Well-known Connemara builder, developer and businessman, Martin Acton who was one of the most seriously injured people is due to go into hospital again in the coming week.

Mr Acton has undergone surgery on three occasions since Christmas for the treatment of internal injuries. He also suffered two breaks in his back.

Others who sustained serious injuries include…