A LEADING anti-war campaigner and former Irish soldier has expressed concern about the dangers of ageing passenger aircraft transporting US troops and munitions through Shannon airport.
The latest warning from Dr Edward Horgan, who is international secretary of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance, follows a series of incidents at Shannon this year involving one model of aircraft operated by Omni Air International.
Omni operates under contract to the US department of defence’s Air Mobility Command, which transports more than 200,000 troops through Shannon every year, many of them on DC-10 aircraft.
In the latest incident last week, a Shannon-bound Omni DC-10 had to declare an emergency and dump fuel after experiencing engine problems over Canada. There were 256 US military personnel on board.
Anti-war groups here have long warned of the unreliability of Omni’s ageing DC-10 fleet, many of which are more than 25 years old.
Dr Horgan, a former Irish Army commandant, said: “I am particularly concerned about the safety of DC-10s which seem to experience an inordinate number of engine problems. These are old aircraft now and they are also licensed to carry munitions, which makes them a significant additional hazard.”
There have been a least six incidents so far this year involving Omni DC-10s at Shannon, including two in the same 24-hour period in February.