An Cosantóir

12 | you will find many in the cockpits of airlines as many graduates took to the air in fulfilment of a lifelong ambition to fly. You'll also find former Apprentice School graduates at senior officer rank in the Air Corps. Training is a recurrent and important theme for any aviation operation and the Air Corps is no different in this regard. The training of its pilots takes two years before they are awarded their 'Wings' and commission and qualify to join their new units. There are three Air Corps cadets in the Military College in the Curragh at present, with more joining this September, and accordingly it will be 2013 before the first of them get their 'Wings' and commence flight operations. Our relationship with the Defence Forces today couldn't be better and joint operations with the Army and the Naval Service are continuing to improve and develop, with new interoperability skills being honed all the time. We have several officers in key posi- tions in important directorates, such as Legal Services, Operations, Intelligence, and CIS. Blue uniforms can thus be found all over the DF structure and I think this has certainly enhanced relations between the Air Corps and the rest of the Defence Forces and has led to greater operational effectiveness. In terms of aircraft strength we have just come through a large procurement phase over the last ten years that has seen the arrival of the Gates Learjet 45 transport and air ambulance jet, the new fleet of Pilatus PC-9M turboprop trainers, two Eurocopter EC- 135P2s and six Agusta Westland AW139 helicopters. Both CASA CN- 235s have completed a midlife mission upgrade and the engines and airframes have at least another 10 to 15 years service life left. These are strong, robust aircraft specifically designed for operat- ing at low levels over the ocean and their mission equipment is the latest in 21st century technology and a similar 'fit' has also been purchased by the US Coast Guard for their fleet of CN-235s. The Grumman G1159C Gulfstream IV jet is now 20 years old, but has a lot of years operation left in her too. It's a solid, reliable performer, and she went through a big maintenance phase two years ago which clears it for a low maintenance life in the short term. All of the Air Corps fleet isn't as new but the Cessna FR172Hs are still providing vital top-cover to cash escorts in the brigades and although certainly getting old are still operating safely and effectively. With reducing budgets, capital spending is going to be tightly controlled. The Cessnas are still airworthy and they provide an excellent service and put valuable flying and operational expe- rience into our young pilots, particularly in co-operating with the Army, the Naval Service and Gardaí as well as other government agencies. The grounding of the Beechcraft Kingair200, however, has left a gap in our twin-engine training and we are currently plugging this by running an initial twin-engine training course on An Cosantóir October 2011 the CASA, a first for us and one which offers a way forward. Our goal is to stay relevant to the needs of the Defence Forces and the citizens of the state. This is done through service level agreements with various government departments. For example, we have one with the Coast Guard, providing top cover with the CASAs and SAR helicopter support if called upon. Only this July while on a naval winching exercise one of our AW 139s got diverted to a SAR mission in the Cork area on request from the Coast Guard, winching a French national from a cliff near Baltimore to Cork Hos- pital. The HSE air ambulance service SLA has developed since 2003 and the role has evolved with the air ambulance kits which were delivered with the Learjet and both helicopter types giving patients comfortable, quality healthcare facilities during flight.. The service level agreements also help the Air Corps to plan bud- gets for each year. For example, annually we are committed to 70- 80 air ambulance missions over three different types of aircraft; 1,750 hours of on-station maritime patrolling; and providing sup- port to the Garda Síochána through the Garda Air Support Unit. This combined operation was the first SLA to be signed into being and has moved from strength to strength since 1997 and now the helicopters are on routine standby 24/7, with a two-minute response time and 12 minutes for the fixed-wing Britten-Norman Defender 4000. The helicopters have never failed to make the two-minute scramble time to date. The Air Corps also provides a service to the Garda Ombudsman's office, which uses us for aerial photography, crime scene analysis, and getting their teams down-country as quickly as possible. We also provide a service to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) that in- cludes radar and en route navigation aids as well as the transpor- tation of the Department of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Unit to the scene of an accident. The IAA used us in the aftermath of the tragic air crash in Cork Airport in February 2011. In recent years we have proven that our aircraft and crews are flexible and have developed a multitude of skills to meet a multi- tude of challenges, from assisting the civil authorities in situations involving flooding, heavy snowfalls and fires, and even evacuating Irish citizens from a disaster area. During the heavy snow last win- ter we had all six AW139s on the ramp ready to go, although as it turned out the county councils and citizens were better equipped to deal with such conditions than I remember in 1982, when there were heavy snowfalls and we had all 11 helicopters at the time, including the Puma, working flat out for a week. The new AW139s proved invaluable during severe bog and gorse fires in May employing the 'Bambi Bucket' water-drop system for the first time. Working in conjunction with the local fire services, they saved lives and homes, and prevented the fires from spread- ing. The equipment functioned well and the experience gained

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