An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir April 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie 14 | BY LUKASZ GANCARZ I reland is well known for its mild climate and evergreen fields, but the weather here can change in an instant. It is so common to experience all four seasons within a single day that a oft-repeated refrain goes "If you can fly in Ireland, you can fly anywhere." It was the gnarly winter of 1963-64 remembered woefully as the "Big Freeze," that proved the saying correct and demonstrated both the need for and utility of rotorcraft in the Irish Air Corps. It hadn't gotten as cold in the last 200 years with ponds, lakes and rivers freezing solid. Towns and villages were cut off and supplies ran low. People in need of urgent medical care were put in a life-threatening situation with no means of transportation. Families were stranded in their own homes with local emergency services battling through the snow to gain any access to those in need. Ireland's Defence Forces deployed troops to provide rations and evacuate those worst affected countrywide. Irish Air Corps crews did their best to drop food where possible, but it was rarely enough. High winds and low visibility were jeopardizing all relief efforts. It became pain- fully obvious that the state needed its own, dedicated rotary division. The decision was made to form the Helicopter Wing of the Air Corps, which would focus mainly on search- and-rescue (SAR) operations. After long consideration, the Irish government placed an order for three Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopters. The first two were delivered in 1963 and the third in 1964. The Alouette III is a light, multirole, single engine helicopter developed by the French Sud Aviation, which had seen service across the globe. A total of eight Alouette IIIs saw service in Ireland between 1963 and 2007, initially with the Irish Air Ambulance Service. Helicopters were regularly deployed on SAR missions, troop transport and explosive ordnance disposal operations. The rising number of tasks and an outstanding success rate of helicopter SAR operations was an indication that a new type of aircraft was needed to meet public demand. The Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma was leased from its manufacturer to fill in the role of a heavy-duty workhorse. It was only in 1982 when the Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin II (now the Airbus AS365 Dauphin) was chosen to fill the SAR role. It was the first aircraft with a full glass cockpit introduced to Ireland's fleet, however it soon became clear that the Dauphin was not well suited for SAR opera- tions, especially in bad weather. To cover the operational gap caused by the shortfalls of the Dauphin, the Aérospatiale SA 342L Gazelle was purchased and served in this role until December 2005. Another leap forward was marked by introduction of the crew resource management (CRM) system, known well in civil aviation. It was designed to include all staff working both on the ground and in the air. This project was, and still is managed by Lt. Col. Phillip Bonner, who until recently was the commanding officer of No. 3 Operations Wing. The main idea was to give everyone in and working with the Air Corps, from flight attendants, engineers and flight crews all the way to janitorial staff, responsiblity for the safety and performance of its operations. With new training standards in place, CRM was introduced to the Garda Air Support Unit (GASU). The Air Corps provided pilots and a Eurocopter (now Airbus) AS355N Twin Squirrel for Ireland's National Police Service (An Garda Síochána) beginning in September 1997. In January 2008, a Eurocopter EC135 T2 was purchased. From 2005 to 2008, both aircraft contributed to over 1,300 arrests and located 14 miss- ing persons during SAR details. The Irish Air Corps was providing pilots, while the national police provided two more crew positions: the mission commander seated in the back of the aircraft and a second crew member sitting beside the pilot. (Again, all crew members are fully CRM trained and they can assist the single pilot in a variety of tasks, such as verifying checklist items or assistance during an emergency operation.) The AS355N was replaced in 2007 by a second EC135 T2+. After nearly 20 years of cooperation, both the Air Corps and An Garda Síochána have de- veloped a perfectly balanced service to the public, operating on a 24-hour basis. While being attached to the No. 3 Wing, each pilot is working under orders from their commanding officer. In GASU, the pilot in command (PIC) makes the final call on whether the mission tasked by the dispatcher is flyable or not. And CRM shines when there could be significant pressure involved in the decision-making process — especially with high-risk ar- rests, or the pursuit of armed criminals. The EC135 had proven itself to be such an effective tool for all-weather operations that two more aircraft were fielded by the Irish Air Corps in 2004. Soon after, a search commenced for a complete SAR and helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) capable platform, which can also fill some traditionally military roles. The AgustaWestland (now Leonardo) AW139 was chosen to replace a veteran fleet of Alouettes. The AW139 was meant to be a true Swiss army knife, capable of undertaking a full spec- trum of missions including HEMS, firefighting, troop insertion and patient

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