THE PASSION of Colm Clancy for his work as a helicopter pilot was underlined at his funeral in the Donegal Gaeltacht yesterday.
A tiny model helicopter rested on his wicker coffin as relatives and friends carried it from the requiem Mass at St Mary’s Church, Derrybeg, for burial in nearby Magheragallon Cemetery.
Mr Clancy’s father Matt, an Údarás na Gaeltachta accountant who recently retired, told several hundred mourners that flying helicopters was his son’s passion.
Mr Clancy (34), a helicopter flight instructor, died last week along with his student Dermot Sheridan (24), when their Schweizer machine crashed in the north end of the Bog of Allen in Kilmurray Bog, Co Kildare.
The crash happened shortly after the aircraft left Weston airport near Leixlip on Wednesday evening for a training flight.
The tragedy was only discovered on Thursday when the men’s families became concerned.
Derrybeg parish priest Fr Michael Sweeney, who was joined on the altar by six other priests, spoke of the loyalty of the Clancy family to the Irish language and the culture of the area since they moved there from Dublin three decades ago.
The priest said they were a family who always considered others and for that reason they had asked that, while he delivered his eulogy in Irish, he also say a few words in English for the many friends of Mr Clancy who had travelled from as far away as Africa.
“Colm cared about people and that was clearly evidenced by the number of his friends at his wake from all over the world,” said Fr Sweeney. He added that the mourners were also remembering Mr Sheridan in their prayers.
Fr Sweeney noted that Mr Clancy qualified as a civil engineer and then went on to realise his dream. “He had another talent, to be a pilot, and nothing would stop him, so he fulfilled his wish and used his talents.”
The chief mourners at the funeral were Mr Clancy’s parents, Matt and Betty, his brothers Eoin, Donal and Rónán, and his sister, Aedín, the youngest in the family.
Singer Aoife Ní Fhearraigh was accompanied at the funeral Mass by organist Baba Brennan, mother of international star Enya.