An Cosantóir

| 15 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE include Air Ambulance missions which can involve transferring patients to anywhere in Europe. For a lot of these missions the patients are between the ages of three to ten so there is always great satisfaction when we successfully transfer them abroad for medical treatment or return them home after treatment. We are always trying to upskill and practice with our equipment so operations are very fluid and if problems arise we can act quickly and competently in any situation. The other main part of our flying involves Ministerial Air Transport. For these missions we regularly fly our countries leaders to any part of Europe so there is a lot of preparation involved. I really enjoy these operations as it gives me the opportunity to see new and sometimes sunny places where I could be for one to three days. The most memorable trip I had was when I went on a triple overnight to Turkey and Greece. During this mission I spent one night in Hatay, one night in Ankara and another in Athens. I was delighted to visit Athens as I was able to visit the Acropolis! During my time as Aircrew I've visited a lot of other interesting places such as Reykjavik, Zurich and Stockholm. I have seen a lot of cities over my short period of time flying with the Air Corps and still enjoy seeing new places I never thought I would get to visit. When I'm not flying, I'm always looking for opportunities to up-skill or hone the skills I have learned during my time flying. When I'm not flying on the aircraft I'm assisting others preparing for their flight by dealing with any ground tasks as required. These can cover an array of responsibilities from checking emergency equipment on board, to stocking the aircraft and preparing the appropriate paperwork to make the flight fall into place. In my role I have always been afforded the opportunity to take part in all sorts of extra activities such as playing golf with Air Corps Golf Society, to training troops which was a highly rewarding experience for me to take part in. I have also been given the opportunity to take part in other courses outside of the unit such as a Flight Dispatcher course, MedAire training, Flight Safety international Cabin training and so on. All of these courses come with civilian certification which are recognised globally. When I'm tasked with a MATS (Ministerial Air Transport Service) mission, I arrive two hours before the departure time of the flight to get everything prepared. These tasks include checking the stock on the aircraft, ensuring all the emergency equipment is there and functioning correctly and double-checking that all the paperwork is in order. Myself and the pilots would sit down and brief to talk about the factors affecting the flight such as weather en-route and the flight time to allow me to plan my service. Weather is an important factor in our role I always try to get as much detail as I can from the brief with the pilots. Once all that is complete and if there is time available I go through what I call "my pre- flight ritual", where I'd sit have a nice cup of coffee listen to certain songs to make me nice and relaxed before getting on board the aircraft. When the PAX (passengers) arrive I greet them at the aircraft and once they have all boarded I close up the doors and brief the passengers on all the safety features of the aircraft. While taxiing out to the runway I do my last checks and give the cabin secure signal to the pilots. Once we're airborne I start a service (if required for that flight) and that would take up most of the flight time. Upon landing at our destination we as a crew would close down the aircraft and deal with the handling agent to get whatever we need for the next stage of the mission which typically would be going back to Baldonnel. After the aircraft is closed down we make our way to a hotel and in general, we would have time off to go and explore whatever city we are in and try the local cuisine (a great perk of the job!). When the time comes to return home we would make our way back to the aircraft and follow the exact same process as we did on the way out. After arriving back at home base we are greeted by the ground crew who assist in any way we need. This is typical of how a mission would go. In my opinion it's one of the best parts of the job as it allows me to travel around Europe while still working in the Air Corps. In conclusion, I have really enjoyed my time as part of 102 Squadron. It has been a memorable experience and it's a great squadron to work in. The work I do is very rewarding for what I want from a job. I like to travel and see new places and this is what appealed to me the most when I decided to become aircrew on the Learjet and PC12. In the near future we will hopefully have a new aircraft that will have more capabilities and will give me more opportunity to travel to even further destinations around the globe. Our unit is going to be running a course for air and ground crew in the coming months and I think it's a great opportunity for other to enjoy the same experiences I have had so far in my role as Aircrew. I'm excited to pass on skills I have obtained over the last few years to potential candidates who share similar interests to me. I look forward to the future of 102 Squadron with more opportunities to see many new places and hopefully a new aircraft to learn some new skills.

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