An Cosantóir July/August 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie
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by LT COL DAVID CORCORAN, OC
3 OPERATIONS WING
O
n a dark, balmy evening
earlier this year a team from
3 ops Wing deployed to an
island in the south. However, this was
not the usual bere Island but an island
a little further south - Malta!
The team, comprising Capt Declan
Daly, Capt Finbar McArdle, FQMS
Tracey Walsh, Sgt David Hennessy,
Sgt Damian Kelly, and myself, touched
down in Luqa International Airport
to be met by Capt Nicholas Grech
(Squadron Commander, Air Wing) who
welcomed us as guests of the Armed
Forces of Malta. We were promptly
taken to the Naval Base near Valletta,
where we were honoured to be the
first guests in brand new accommoda-
tion overlooking the harbour. A number
of Malta's Maritime Squadron were in
the harbour and alongside them was a
familiar sight, LÉ Aoife.
Our mission was to provide aviation
training to the Maltese military aviation
unit. We were delighted to be partici-
pating in the Air Corps' first internation-
al deployment and each team member
brought an individual skillset to the mis-
sion, crossing multiple areas including:
hoist operations, fast roping, search and
rescue, and external load operations.
Early the next morning we rose to
beautiful weather, and before long we
were on the way to the Air Wing HQ
in Luqa Airport for the start of a busy
week. After an introduction to the Air
Wing OC, Lt Col Clinton O'Neill (his
grandfather was Irish), we received a
number of briefings and were brought
on a familiarisation flight around the
islands of Malta, Comino and Gozo.
On the familiarisation flight we had
an opportunity to see the full beauty
of the islands, including how remote
and isolated some parts were. Dur-
ing the flight we met Sgt Carmelo
Psaila whose English cockney accent
belied his maternal Waterford roots. It
seemed that there were clear Irish links
to Air Wing and we felt very much at
home, except that the weather was so
much better!
The first couple of days training
focused on fast-roping techniques
and hoist operations over land. For
the fast-roping techniques members
of the Armed Forces of Malta's (AFM)
special forces units joined us. They
