Golfers playing on the 11th green at Dooks Golf Club near Glenbeigh, Co Kerry, on Saturday evening had a narrow escape when a helicopter veered wildly above their heads and made a forced landing on the sand just yards away. No one was injured in the crash.
A party of women golfers who did not wish to be named said that only for a short delay just before the crash they would have been on the fairway at the time, where blades and debris from the two-seater helicopter landed, cutting dints on the grass.
"Had we not lingered we would have been on the fairway. We were heading for the ladies' tee-box on the 11th," one of the women explained.
"We are used to helicopters flying overhead. We thought this one was actually going to land on the 11th. It was hovering over-head. It appeared to have engine trouble and was going sideways. There was a strong wind which blew it out onto the beach 10 yards away," a second woman said.
A group of male golfers were so traumatised they abandoned their 18-hole game and headed for the clubhouse bar.
A tractor and Land-Rover arrived within minutes for a clean-up operation that took an hour to complete.
Mr Timothy Sheahan, a local butcher who operates the helicopter, said its condition after the accident "was not bad at all" and it was not written off.
Asked who was piloting the machine at the time, he replied "No comment." Nobody had been injured in the incident, he confirmed.
A spokesperson for the Irish Aviation Authority said the rescue co-ordination centre at Shannon received a 999 call at 7.15 p.m. on Saturday and that a British-registered Enstrom 280 FX, a small two-seater helicopter, made a forced landing due to engine problems.
Permission was granted for the helicopter to be moved because of the incoming tide. The incident will be investigated by the air accident and investigation unit of the Department of Transport, the spokesperson said.