MYSTERY surrounds the abrupt landing of a massive helicopter on a green space just metres away from houses, which frightened playing children and stunned local residents in South Dublin last week.
On Monday, June 9, while working in his second floor office, Des Mullen – a former maintenance mechanic at Dublin Airport- was astounded when he suddenly heard the deafening sound of a helicopter engine and the swishing sound of the craft’s rotary blade.
When he looked out his window he saw the helicopter flying within metres of adjoining houses in Boden Park in Ballyboden.
“When I heard it come in I thought he was in trouble because he was close to the houses and they were shaking,” he said.                                                                                                                                               “I was stunned because I thought he was going to come down on the house at first as he was that close to it. Then he landed on the green.” 

Nobody was injured when the Robinson R44 landed at UCD Belfield on September 23 last.
The single-engined R44 had earlier refuelled and taken off from a small heliport at Leopardstown with only the pilot on board.
The 41-year-old had planned to fly to Weston Aerodrome to pick up the owner of the four-year-old helicopter.
About two miles from Leopardstown, the helicopter was passing over the large university campus at around 1,000 feet when the engine "started to run rough and lose power".
An investigation found that carburettor icing was the probable cause.