I agree with you that commercial operators in Ireland are struggling for work at the moment but I doubt the IAC canvassed for this work to deliberately deprive a commercial operator of the job and associated revenue. My guess is that they were approached by a government body to undertake this work and did so. From start to finish, it appears this work on the Skelligs was kept as a solely "government" operation.
Irish Helicopters did similar work many moons ago with an S-61N so, yes, this work has been carried out in the past by a commercial operator. The other issue is; Who is footing the cost of the use of the helicopter? Is the cost of the helicopter coming out of the IAC's own budget or is the OPW or other government agency paying for the cost? If it turns out that the IAC funded the flying for this operation, having been directed to do so, the head OPW bean counter is going to look like a hero as he got the use of a helicopter for free, or so it will appear to his boss. If any glory-hunting went on here, my guess is that it wasn't necessarily carried out by the IAC.
In reply to Red;
It is doubtful too much consideration was given to using a commercial helicopter company
I can only assume that this is the case (see my comments above regarding who is footing the bill for the helicopter)
Really ,
The Irish Lights and OPW work has been carried out by a commercial operator for the past 30 years or so .
Why the change now?
I don't honestly know. Perhaps this information can be obtained under a Freedom of Information request.
Surely in these recessionary times, a civil company would welcome an opportunity to tender for this work, especially as there are very experienced sling pilots available.
Yes, I agree with you on this score.
Is there not a clause somewhere that states the aer corp cannot compete for private business.
Again, I don't know but I think this issue came up in the past when the most recent SAR contract was awarded.
Perhaps the status of that island might have something to do with the selection of the Irish Air Corps for this particular job?
I don't understand what Island status has to do with this operation.
CHC,a private company already operates medevac and SAR to the offshore islands.
When I refer to the status of the Skellig islands, I'm referring to their being inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1996. Access to the island is strictly controlled so maybe this impacted on the selection of the IAC for this job. Only the guys at Irish Helicopters can comment on what exactly the situation is with those islands as regards helicopters and who has been supporting the OPW in the last few years. Did someone in the OPW, or some other government department charged with looking after the island, dictate a change from commercial helicopters to IAC helicopters? I don't know.
Given that the IAC have not been sanctioned to deploy helicopters abroad in support of Irish Defence Forces peace-keeping operations with the U.N. or N.A.T.O. at the moment, they are limited to operations on the island of Ireland. As far as I know, they haven't even sent aircraft to Scandinavia at any point in support of Nordic Battle Group training. That means, rightly or wrongly, there is some overlap in what the IAC and commercial operators do in areas like aerial fire-fighting, air ambulance/EMS work and now external load operations. Perhaps the only way to open up these jobs to a competition between all operators in Ireland is to challenge the government on the issue and they generally aren't going to listen unless you get them before the courts. If a commercial operator can show they can do the job cheaper then the IAC, someone in opposition in the Dail might raise the issue.
500 Fan.