An Cosantóir

GOC air corps | 11 Forfaire agus Tairiseact (Vigilance and Loyalty) BY WESLEY BOURKE WITH BRIG GEN W. PAUL FRY (GOC AIR CORPS AND DIRECTOR OF MILITARY AVIATION) T hese are challenging times. There is no doubt that the downturn in the economy, shrinking budgets, and re- duced capital spending will have an impact on the Air Corps and Defence Forces. My goal is to get the Air Corps and its person- nel through this time whilst maintaining flight safety, operational effectiveness, and efficiency. In an organisation like the Air Corps people are key, as without trained and mo- tivated technicians and pilots our aircraft and helicopters are useless. If we keep in- ducting the right people and training them to a high standard, developing them and their careers, we will maintain the ability to meet any challenges that come our way. This year has been a big test for us and aside from this we have had some good news with promotions starting to appear. Notwithstanding the promotion morato- rium the Air Corps has been allocated one new colonel and two lieutenant colonels to reinstate command and control functions. New captains and commandants have also assisted the junior officers to prog- ress into flight commander and squadron commander positions. Critically, we have also gained through experienced airmen achieving the rank of corporal, not only good for morale, but good for junior techni- cal leadership and maintaining high qual- ity technical perfor- mance in the hangars. The benefits to the overall Air Corps mis- sion extends to other essential areas where promotions took place such as flight steward- ing, administration, quartermastering, air traffic services and air crewing functions in CASAs and helicopters. Issues of another type have started to impinge upon our operation through growth in the civilian market starting to at- tract our personnel out of the service. This is not a new problem for the Air Corps as it has come around twice be- fore in my career and this time it is compli- cated by being set against the backdrop of taxation on gratuities for the first time. As a new year initiative it has spurred many personnel with over 21 years service to con- sider their options before this happens and has many experienced personnel consider- ing retirement. Affecting both technicians and pilots it will generate fluidity in our personnel planning process and capabil- ity development plans and challenge us to be agile in our thinking and solutions. As a formation in the DF we too are also introducing a new, smaller Air Corps estab- lishment, following on from the Croke Park Agreement. The new model will see the Air Corps 48 personnel 'lighter' but will enable all air operations and training to continue and allow the Air Corps retain its internal functions and operational capability, as far as that can be predicted these days! Given this background a continuous flow of new personnel is vitally important to the continued effectiveness of the service. The Air Corps has a recruit platoon in training this year, and these new addi- tions to the Air Corps will be very welcome to our team and will be offered interest- ing and varied career options in air traffic control, crash rescue service, air crewing on helicopters and CASAs, and aerial photog- raphy, to name but a few areas. It takes four years to train an aircraft technician through the Apprentice School, on the way achieving recognition from FÁS and DIT. The apprentice technician stream also needs filling with new students and the Air Corps is currently working hard to recruit trainee technicians from within the DF to form the next class. The Apprentice School itself is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, having qualified over 4,000 students since its inception. Its graduates now can be found worldwide in all major airlines, working in and leading technical teams and managing at the highest levels. Also THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE

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