An Cosantóir

18 MULLINGAR TO MONROVIA – A SOLDIER'S MEMOIR By Photos by Capt Anthony Davey (AR Ret'd) A/M Sam Gibney Being able to help out with Ireland's battle against the COVID-19 pandemic is something I was fortunate to do in my job as a Captain with Aer Lingus. My connection with the military was through the RDF/FCA and my last appointment there was Captain adjutant with 62 Cav Sqn RDF in Cathal Brugha Barracks. I am a commander on our A330 aircraft and back in early 2020 operated direct flights to Beijing PRC, returning to Dublin with consignments of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for our frontline medical personnel. The operation began on Saturday 28th March, and over three months some 259 round trips were operated, amounting to almost 2.7m miles travelled by the A330 fleet on the route. The services transported 4,000 tonnes of cargo - made up of some 86m individual pieces of PPE - with up to five flights operating daily. The final flight arrived into Dublin Airport on Friday 26th June. Planning this operation, from its inception to take-off of the first flight, took a little over three days and entailed an extraordinary amount of communication. Every department of the airline was called upon and most operated for 24 hours each day during that period. Here I must compliment His Excellency the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China and the personnel at the Embassy of the PRC for their engagement and assistance, without which this could not have happened. Also, and at very short notice, the officials at the Embassy set up a most expeditious visa processing operation for the Aer Lingus pilots, engineers and loadmasters. Our Flight Operations Department provided suitably qualified pilots (crews of five) while specialist flight planners and performance engineers organising route and airspace options came through Flight Ops Support, along with clearances to enter the PRC plus the data for the destination airfield and the en-route and destination alternate aerodromes. The Engineering Department provided engineers (2 per aircraft) and logistical support for maintenance issues; IAG Cargo Dublin gave us loadmasters (2 per aircraft) to supervise the weight distribution and load security at Beijing while Flight Kitchens Department looked after our food. In- Flight Services provided the special crew declarations and health-check documents. The airline's Finance Department, Corporate Security and Legal Office were involved in the planning, as was the Head Office at Shamrock House. The Aer Lingus Appearance Teams undertook a deep cleaning and sanitising regime on each aircraft after unloading and again prior to the aircraft re-entering service. Defence Forces Scania trucks loading PPE into their containers Members of the DFTC 1 MIC unit loading PPE from China onto the DROPS containers MY EXPERIENCE OF THE AER LINGUS PPE AIRLIFT FROM CHINA

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