An Cosantóir

20 PILATUS PC-9M PILATUS PC-9M The silence of an early morning at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, comes to an abrupt stop, when heavy hangar doors begin to slowly move to one side, accompanied by a loud hum of electric motors. Fresh air enters the hangar, where up to this point, Air Corps technicians have carried out checks and maintenance work on the Pilatus PC-9M. While the pilots, instructors and students are arriving at the base, the aircraft are ready for the day. Before the flying staff start their daily routines, engineers will cross check every vital part of the state-of-the-art machine, ensuring that they are in a top shape for the day. Aircraft are towed to the ramp start up area, where fuelling is completed, and Ground Power Units (GPU) are attached. Each aircraft uses a GPU to provide external power prior to the engine start, allowing the pilots to carry out all avionics checks, without draining the battery. While the engineering inspector gets ready to brief the crews on the work done and required for the day ahead, pilots and students are starting their day with a full weather and flying briefing. Much of the Wings Course student classroom-based briefing bears many similarities to an operational brief. The student pilots are required to start their presentation at 0845 hrs, precisely!! The student will stand in front of a class, which is now limited to 10 people inside at once, and start a count exactly 15 seconds before the scheduled time. In Ireland, pilots both military and civilian use the Met Éireann Self Briefing website, which provides a full spectrum of meteorological information. When required, British Met Office and other European providers websites give additional information for the United Kingdom and Europe. For the local weather situation, the METAR is the most important piece of information. METeorological Aviation Report provides a short, coded weather update. The next vital piece of information is the TAF: Terminal Area Forecast, which gives forecasted weather information in a similar format as METAR. The Low Level Significant Weather chart gives a much larger overview for Ireland and the UK, showing weather fronts and conditions associated with them. It also informs the pilots about significant weather occurrences such as icing or turbulence. Another critical piece of information are NOTAMs - Notices to Airmen. These reports contains all the information concerning flight operations in the area. This can vary from airport closures, obstacles such as cranes and much more. As the training progresses, students are getting accustomed to how to read and understand each of these services and most importantly, they must relay this information to their fellow classmates and instructors. Daily briefing is the "bread and butter" for every pilot's planning cycle, whether commercial or military and no flying operations can take place without it. Before the students will be given an opportunity to sit inside the PC-9M, they must complete their ground school, which covers a full ATPL syllabus (Airline Transport Pilot Licence) and uses the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) training By Pte Lukasz Gancarz Photos by Pte Lukasz Gancarz The Swiss Army Knife of the Irish Air Corps A PC-9M sits on a wet runway looking as though it is preparing to take-off, as this was for a press photo shoot A PC-9M sits on a the runway preparing to take off

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