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that they were under surveillance from an aircraft operating at least 10 miles away. The oil rigger of course has nothing to worry about, but if it were an illegal fisherman or smuggler, they wouldn’t be happy to know that the crew of No1 Operations Wing’s CASA CN 235 Maritime Patrol aircraft had them in their sights.
T
here’s many a time that the crew of an oilrig out at sea may have been going about their work blissfully unaware
BY WESLEY BOURKE PHOTOGRAPHS BY ARMN GREG DORNEY AND PADDY REILLY
The seas that Ireland is responsible for policing are vast, and oftentimes hostile, extending to 370km from our shores. The Air Corps patrols the skies over this vast area day and night, 365 days a year. To find out what life is like for our ‘eyes over the sea’ we went on patrol with the Air Corps. Our crew for the day included Capt Conor Moore (aircraft commander), Capt Dónal Curran (co-pilot), Cpl Mark
Keogh and Armn Keith Mooney (sensor and airborne radar operators - SAROs), Billy Doyle (photographer) and Garry Corcoran (radio operator), and our destination was 200kms west of the coast of Kerry.
THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE
