The helicopter pilot who died when his aircraft crashed into a mountain in Co Kerry on Wednesday night was named yesterday as Mr David Reid (42), a father of two from Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin.
Air accident investigators have begun examining the wreckage of the Bell Jetranger, pieces of which were lifted from the mountainside yesterday by an Air Corp helicopter.
The crash occurred at Lisdargan, near Lispole, shortly after 7 p.m, with Mr Reid the only person on board.
The helicopter took off from Farranfore Airport about 20 minutes earlier and is believed to have been bound for Tralee, where it planned to collect a group of people who had attended that afternoon's race meeting in the town.
Mr Kevin Humphreys, of the Department of Transport's air accident investigation unit, said it was trying to work out the aircraft's flight path. It could not comment other than to say the point of impact was not on the Farranfore to Tralee route.
He added: "When it crashed there was quite a heavy fire and a lot of the cabin was destroyed. We are sifting through the wreckage and trying to get it off the mountainside for examination."
It is believed the pilot may have got lost in heavy cloud on the journey to Tralee.
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