An Cosantóir June 2014 www.dfmagazine.ie
18 |
from the gendarmerie and the
CRS, another branch of the French
police force. As more of these
units were established in the
Alps and Pyrenees, they became
collectively known as Peloton de
Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne
(PGHM). There are, at present, 15
units in the PGHM, including one
based on Réunion, a French island
in the Indian Ocean.
Helicopter resources for the
new unit were initially supplied
from the Gendarmerie Aerial Unit
based in Lyon, with a Bell 47 G2
machine. In 1963 the first Alou-
ette III arrived on station. (We
would be familiar with this same
veritable workhorse in Ireland,
as the Air Corps operated them
for many years). The Alouette III,
which operated at its maximum
height ceiling on many occasions,
remained in service with the
Securité Civile (Civil Defence) in
France, carrying the international
Civil Defence badge on its tail
boom, until May 2004 and the ar-
rival of the Eurocopter EC145.
The gendarmerie aerial section
in Chamonix consists of two de-
tachments, one based at Chamo-
nix itself and the other at Modane.
Pilots are recruited directly from
the gendarmerie and undergo 22
weeks of intensive training at the
Helicopter Training School of the
Aviation Légéré de Armée de Terre
(ALAT), based in Dax. Alternatively,
pilots can apply from the Air Force,
Navy, or direct from ALAT - the
competition is intense.
Given the variable and extreme
weather conditions found in the
high mountains, being a PGHM
pilot is not for the fainthearted or
the inexperienced and on applying
to join the unit prospective pilots
would need to have built up ap-
proximately 3,000 flying hours.
Winch operators are gener-
ally recruited from the gendar-
merie's NCO ranks, as there is
no external recruitment from
other services, with the excep-
tion of former aircraf t mechan-
ics from AL AT or members who
served in the Air Force or Navy,
