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Old 16th Mar 2017, 14:49
  #108 (permalink)  
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Ireland
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Warning: Rant ahead.

Can the first hole in the cheese be assigned to the fact that the Air Corps were unable to provide fixed-wing top cover for the original Rescue 118 SAR mission?

As with the police force here, the Defense Forces have been consistently underfunded and under-resourced. For the Gardai, that has reulted in two policemen being shot dead in recent years and for the SAR crews (Air Corps and now CHC) has also directly or indirectly resulted in two SAR helicopter accidents with the loss of eight crewmen and women.

If the IAC Casa had provided top cover as requested, the R116 crew would in all likelihood be alive today. The inability of the IAC to launch a fixed-wing as requested is down to low staffing levels within the Casa squadron and the ATC unit at Baldonnell, apparently. If wages are too poor to retain skilled personnel, that needs to be examined. Baldonnel should not be a training school for Ryanair or other operators who can lure well-trained personnel away with ease. Ultimately, responsibility lies with our esteemed elected representatives in government. They fail to resource organisations like the Air Corps, then stupidly wonder why people die in accidents like this. The air accident investigation report more than likely won't highlight the inability of a so-called modern air arm to answer a request for fixed-wing top cover but it is the event that sets the ball rolling and ultimately leads the crew of R116 to the west coast.

The Taoiseach apparently has commented that the staff shortages within the Air Corps are "well known". It makes the blood boil.

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