A HELICOPTER crash in Co Meath last year was caused by a cleaning cloth, an investigation has found.
A report from the Air Accident Investigation Unit said a cleaning cloth was found entangled in the tail rotor driveshaft, which ultimately caused the driveshaft to fail.
The 41-year-old pilot suffered serious back injuries in the crash on March 20th, 2008, and significant damage was caused to the helicopter.
The pilot was flying from Celtic Heliport in Knocksedan, Co Dublin, to Weston airport in Co Kildare when he encountered problems. After lifting off from Knocksedan at 3.32pm, he was approaching Dunshaughlin when he alerted air-traffic controllers that he had a problem.
After informing the controllers that he needed to make an emergency landing and while transmitting a mayday call, the pilot went out of contact.
The helicopter had been subject to a routine maintenance inspection shortly before the accident.
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