Survivors to tell their tale 50 years after plane crash on Roaringwater Bay

 CORK plane crash survivors who landed in Roaringwater Bay 50 years ago will recall their lucky escape at a commemorative event next week in Schull.

On September 22nd, 1973, the plane, a Piper Cherokee crashed in the water at Roaringwater Bay, where the four men on board made a lucky escape.

Michael Murphy from Mercier Park, Curragh Road, who was 23 years old and training for his pilot’s licence at the time, sat beside the pilot, the late Eric Hutchins, on a return trip from Cork to Düsseldorf in Germany.

The plane was carrying Noel O’Halloran from St Luke’s and the late James McGarry from Monkstown who were headed to Düsseldorf on a business trip.

The first leg of their journey was plain sailing, with a stop in London to refuel and a smooth landing in Germany. The return journey, however, was a different story.

Having refuelled again at Luton airport outside London, the plane ran into trouble crossing over the Welsh coast, when the navigation equipment went awry. 

‘We were just left with a compass to aim for Cork, which is no great problem, except the aircraft was blowing sideways,’ Michael recalled. And shortly afterwards, the fuel began to run out.

‘We were having navigational equipment problems and could not pick up Cork Airport; neither could we pick it up visually,’ said Michael. ‘Then we reached the coast and knew that we were over Baltimore. Our fuel was running out and there was no option but to try for a controlled landing,’

With darkness prevailing, coming to land was not an option, Michael explained, and so they aimed instead for water and hoped for the best.

As the plane smashed down in the sea, the pilot Eric Hutchins was knocked unconscious. However, the other crew members were miraculously uninjured.

‘Eric was injured because he was concentrating completely on getting the plane down,’ Michael said. It was entirely down to Eric’s skill that the other three passengers survived, Michael added.

While the plane was quickly filling with water, the three men pushed and dragged the unconscious pilot out onto the wing. And, as the plane sank, the crew swam ashore supporting Eric, until they finally reached land 45 minutes later at Filemuck near Ballydehob.

The Piper Cherokee’s distress call was picked up by an Aer Lingus flight from London to Cork and a full-scale rescue operation was mounted with helicopters and boats including the lifeboat from Baltimore, under coxswain Christy Collins.

A local family, the McCarthys, helped the crew from the shore to their home, where they were able to help Eric recover consciousness.

‘Only for them we would have had terrible trouble finding the way, and time was important because Eric was hurt. Even with their help it took us nearly an hour to reach their house. They did everything that they possibly could for us, and it was only because of them that we were able to get Eric out of apparent shock,’ Michael explained.

Michael, a young, budding pilot at the time said he was not put off getting his licence. He went on to pilot in a private capacity for about 25 years after the crash – traveling to the Channel Islands and even delivering lobsters to France on one occasion.

Michael now lives between his home near Cork City and his house in Schull, which he purchased more than 45 years ago. He set up a wholesale electronics company in Cork shortly after the crash and has carried on this career all his life – escaping to Schull with his wife Derval and their four children often over the years.

Noel went on to own a successful hospitality business, Hally’s Bar in Blackpool and he now helps his son in the car trade business in Glanmire.

The pilot, Eric passed away in the 1990s having continued his work as an instructor for several years and James passed away from an illness sometime after emigrating to America.

Of the four survivors, the two remaining crew members Michael Murphy and Noel O’Halloran are commemorating the accident with an informal evening of first-hand stories, news articles, and memorabilia from the time. They will tell their fascinating story at the Schull Harbour Hotel on Friday, September 22nd at 8pm.