Originally Posted by
Una Due Tfc
Which incident was that?
He’s probably referring to when there was CRM failure to a spectacular level and the minister of the time brought CHC in to fly their own airframe at almost no notice. Just ask the ex navy crewman trainer who had to deal with the IAC officer attitude when teaching the crewmen. Isn’t one of them now an IAA ops inspector for Irish SAR? Oh but wait, the IAA ran for cover after the R116 crash and claimed they had no oversight despite visiting bases to spend multiple days at a a time auditing.
There seems to be a proliferation of ex IAC crew claiming SAR experience on AW139 and EC135, both types introduced since the above removal of the IAC from all SAR duties. Some of these crew are pilots in Qatari military or crewmen with a Canadian company contracting in Yemen all claiming SAR experience they don’t have. Sadly employers cannot do enough of a background check to discover they lack said experience.
Given that’s the case then a local government being lobbied heavily is only going to be swayed more and more by a false belief of capability and no understanding of methods, recency, training and knowledge. The IAC have been criticised for lack of oversight before but has the culture changed? The give-it-a-go attitude appears to prevail.
Surely it will just be another avenue to better paid civilian jobs for those who man a military SAR asset as used to be the case back in Irish S61 SAR days.
There still exists a cover up culture. The Irish Dept of defence attempted to slur the innocent student pilot in the Pc9 crash a few years back in open court in front of his still grieving family. Only after they damaged the 139 lifting some of the wreckage off the mountains and never reported it. What about the unusual attitude incident during the initial aw139 delivery in 2006. The AS365 sent to Marignane for rebuild many years before on a low loader that was never reported. The CN235 that landed at base with foliage in the landing gear. The Alouette written off claiming an engine failure when the video camera at the wedding nearby confirmed unauthorised whazzing. The video of the FR172 crash that was never publicised and the AAIB report never published. Or the CHC s61 with a smashed tailwheel when 2 IAC pilots during the work up to Sligo in 2002 attempted to lift to hover with engines at idle.
Does anyone in their right mind want that for a state SAR setup in modern times?