Almost four years after the fatal Air Corps Dauphin helicopter crash in Co Waterford, 24-hour helicopter search and rescue cover is to resume for the first time in the south-east.
The 24-hour all-weather service will be initiated next Tuesday at Waterford airport by CHC Helicopters, on contract to the Irish Coast Guard. This fulfils a long-standing commitment to restore 24-hour cover to the region after the Dauphin helicopter crash of July 1999 which claimed the lives of four Air Corps pilots and crew.
CHC has been in Waterford since May of last year, and was due to provide all-weather cover from July, 2002. However, this was delayed when Waterford airport ran into financial difficulties. The Irish Coast Guard had considered relocating the helicopter base to Cork, but the airport then gained a reprieve. A new Aer Arann service linking the south-east with London-Luton is due to begin at Waterford next Monday.
Funding for the regional airport is being provided by the Department of Transport, while the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources is financing the helicopter rescue service to the tune of €500,000 as part of its €19 million annual air/sea rescue budget.
This latter funding is subject to the airport providing full 24-hour air traffic control, rescue and fire-fighting facilities and a hanger for two helicopters. The lack of air traffic control cover on the night of July 1st/2nd, 1999, was a contributory factor in the Air Corps Dauphin helicopter crash at Tramore. The four Air Corps crew who died were returning from a successful rescue mission just hours after the 24-hour base had been initiated.
CHC Helicopters, formerly Bond, already runs two of the State's four air/sea rescue helicopter bases, at Shannon and Dublin, on the Irish Coast Guard's behalf. CHC has also leased a Sikorsky to the Air Corps for the north-west, and Air Corps crews are at an advanced stage of training.
The north-west helicopter will be based at Sligo airport, and will be maintained by CHC. It is expected to operate during daylight hours until October, when it will be upgraded to 24-hour status.
Capt Liam Kirwan, director of the Irish Coast Guard, told The Irish Times that Ireland would have one of the best air rescue services in the world when Sligo is up and running. The Coast Guard helicopters also have responsibility for inland rescue, and comprehensive coastal cover is also provided by the RNLI lifeboats and community inshore services.
Capt Kirwan said that the Coast Guard is currently liaising with the British and Isle of Man coastguards on contingency plans for "mass rescue" situations, involving passenger ferries on the Irish Sea, for example, and a joint training exercise is expected to be held in the Irish Sea in October.
To date this year, the Irish Coast Guard has assisted or saved over 1,500 people. Over 150 of some 330 incidents to date have involved people in difficulties on pleasure craft or involved in leisure activities on water.
It is expected that the figures will rise as the summer season begins, and Irish Water Safety is currently running a public awareness campaign to try and reduce the number of accidents.