One of the two victims of Monday's British army helicopter crash in Derry was training for a possible place on Britain's canoeing team in next year's Olympics, according to the army.
As the army mounted an investigation into how the accident occurred the two aircrew who died in the crash were named as Capt Andrew Nicoll, a single man aged 27, from Grantham in Lincolnshire and Sgt Simon Bennett, a 35-year-old married man with three children from Telford, Shropshire.
They were both members of 5 Regiment, British Army Air Corps, serving with the Joint Helicopter Force (Northern Ireland) based at RAF Aldergrove in Co Antrim.
How the Gazelle helicopter crashed near the City of Derry rugby grounds has not been established, but a military air accident investigation team from Wilton near Salisbury arrived in Northern Ireland yesterday to conduct a "thorough investigation", the army said. A board of inquiry into the crash is established at RAF Aldergrove.
The Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, led tributes to the men who died. "Their terrible loss is a reminder of the dangerous but vital work carried out by army pilots every day."
Lieut Col Duncan Venn, the commanding officer of 5 Regiment Army Air Corps, said the loss of both pilots was a terrible tragedy. "Sgt Simon Bennett, the aircraft commander, who had recently transferred to the army air corps from the Welsh Guards, was a great character," he said. "He was a man of many talents, hugely popular with the regiment and, above all, he was a family man who had been married for 15 years.
"Capt Andy Nicoll, the pilot, was a cheerful, well-liked, single officer, who only finished his pilot training in July. A talented sportsman and world-class canoeist, he was shortly to depart for Australia to continue his training in preparation for the 2004 Olympics," said Lieut Col Venn.
Mr Dominic Bradley, the SDLP MLA for Newry and Armagh, said the crash highlighted once again the dangers faced by the people of his constituency due to the high number of British army helicopter flights over the area.
"The recent helicopter crash in Derry emphasises once more the danger in which the people of the Newry and Armagh constituency and indeed South Armagh in particular, are being placed by the high volume of helicopter flights over the district - one of the highest volumes of anywhere in Western Europe," he said.
Mr Bradley said he was demanding a meeting with the North's Security Minister Ms Jane Kennedy, to discuss the threat to the public from army helicopter flights.
"Many of these flights are over built-up areas and they pose a serious threat to the residents of villages like Bessbrook, Forkhill, Crossmaglen and Newtownhamilton as well as people in rural areas. We have already had an incident a few months back when a senior citizen was blown off her feet by the downwind from a helicopter," added Mr Bradley. "Village inhabitants throughout the area have been subjected to an unacceptable high level of noise and exhaust pollution from helicopters over a long period of years. The British government should begin to implement the terms of the Joint Declaration of April 2003 which promised 'a substantial decrease in military helicopter activity and usage'.
"The time has long since passed when this process should have begun and the recent crash highlights the fact that helicopter flights pose a greater threat to the population than does the security situation. Are we to wait until an accident happens in this area before changes are made?"
