An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir February 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 16 | Previous generations of pilots learned to fly using SIAI-Marchetti Warriors and Fouga Super Magisters. However, in 2004 these were replaced by eight Swiss Pilatus PC-9Ms; advanced training aircraft capable of taking a pupil from ab initio to 'Wings' standard. In the months after the PC-9s arrived, FTS staff worked very hard to learn how to instruct on the aircraft, to explore its poten- tial, to become thoroughly conversant with its systems and capa- bilities, to rewrite the flying training syllabus, and have a team of instructors in place for the first six students in March 2005. The instructors' initial impressions of the aircraft were com- pletely positive and have not changed after more than a decade. The PC-9 is stable and responsive and has excellent handling characteristics, with a jet-like feel, making it a delight to fly. It has all the qualities required of an ab initio trainer but with the ability to be much more. The Pratt and Whitney PT6A-62 engine, flat-rated from 1150shp to 950shp, drives a Hartzell four-bladed propeller, giving a maxi- mum diving speed of 667 km/h (0.73M), with a maximum cruise speed of 500 km/h at sea level and 556 km/h at 6,100m. It climbs at 20.7m/s and has a service ceiling of 11,580m. Instructor and pupil sit in tandem in Martin-Baker CH11-A ejection seats, specially designed for the PC-9, which give safe ejection up to the maximum ceiling at any speed above 65kts. It is fitted with a command ejection control valve, which allows the instructor in the rear seat to initiate ejection of the pupil 1.25 seconds after his own. The avionics package within the well laid-out, comfortable cockpit is impressive: a full EFIS screen displays the primary instru- ments, backed up by a secondary screen. In the unlikely event that both screens fail there is a HUD (heads-up display), which was a first for the Air Corps and indeed for primary training aircraft generally. The HUD has a repeater display in the rear cockpit and mission-recording capability. There are hard points on each wing for 0.5" machine guns and two rocket pods for 2.75" folding-fin aerial rockets; seven to a pod. One of the aircraft's impressive capabilities is its 1,220km endurance at maximum cruise speed or 1,540km at its long-range cruise speed. Alternatively two one-hour sorties can easily be car- ried out, plus 20 minutes reserve. Comdt Frank Byrne has been OC for 15 months and has seen the flying training system move up a gear to match increased require- ment. Currently, nine cadets are more than half way through their flying training, eight are at ground school, and nine are carrying out basic officer training in the Curragh. While the workload for the FTS is already high, covering the work of the School as well as additional military duties, the OC is bidding for an increase of 35% in total hours to be followed by another 20%, in order to give the larger classes their full 170 flying hours. Hours also need to be found for monthly staff continuity training, flying instructor courses, air tests, display visits, cer- emonial flypasts and exercises with the army. With 12 to 16 flights programmed every day, depending on the weather and the availability of instructors and aircraft, it is normal for each instructor to fly two sorties a day. The six staff instructors come with experience of all aspects of the Air Corps. Two are usually lieutenants who will have graduated from the FTS a few years before, the others tend to be captains drawn from either a fixed-wing or helicopter background, with seven or eight years flying time. Lt Gearóid O'Briain, one of the younger instructors, described the Flying Instructors Course, "It begins with six hours flying the PC-9 from the rear instructional seat, which needs a bit of getting used to." This is followed by a three-flight phase. For the first flight the trainee acts as a student, with an instructor in the rear. The second flight pairs two student instructors, teaching each other through explanation, demonstration, imitation, and assessment. The third flight has the trainee instructor in the rear seat with a staff instructor acting as a student in the front seat and making typical errors that a trainee would make. "This takes some 40 pretty intense flying hours and is followed by another 10 hours of advanced formation work, basic fighter ma- noeuvres, air interception and air-to-ground firing, taking the PC-9 to the limit of its certification. The final phases are ground school, on both flying and ground instructional technique, and the study of human performance and limitations." The nine students who have past the half-way mark of their fly- ing training arrived in Baldonnel in September 2013, after spend- ing nine months at the Cadet School in the Curragh undergoing basic military training. Six months of ground school followed, comprising the same 14-subject syllabus as the civilian ATPL (Airline Transport Pilots Licence) course. In addition to being taught and tested by FTS flying instruc- tors, the students are also tested by the Irish Aviation Authority. The next stage was 10 hours in the Fixed Training Device (FTD), or simulator, which has been in service since March 2005. This is a fully working replica of a PC-9 cockpit complete with instru- ment panels, HUD and a 210-degree viewing screen onto which the instructor can project different scenarios. The FTD allows the student to gain a feel for the layout of the cockpit and to master the location of what will at first seem a daunting profusion of but- tons, screens and switches, without the added pressure of actually being in the air. The students practice start-up and taxiing proce- dures, what to do in the event of an emergency, and the operation Sgt Brian O'Keefe, a member of the technical staff for the PC-9 Students being briefed on Authorising Officers

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