Air Corps pilots are flying dangerous search-and-rescue missions off the north-west coast without the support of crash rescue facilities for their own aircraft, the annual conference of the officers' representative association has heard.
The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers heard criticism of what was described as a failure to pay attention to the lessons learned from the crash of the Air Corps rescue helicopter on Tramore Strand, Waterford, in July last year.
Lieut Col Paul Allen, the association's president, said there was no crash rescue service for the Air Corps search-and-rescue helicopter operating from Finner Camp in Co Donegal. He said the average age of the 32 air craft was 24 years. While the purchase of two medium-lift search-and-rescue helicopters had been sanctioned, their delivery would not be until 2003 at the earliest. In the meantime, the service was "grinding to a halt and lives are lost". In Waterford, he said, the Air Corps had only an ageing Alouette helicopter which was not capable of night flight to provide the search-and-rescue service. "It is a source of grave concern to this association that there is still no crash rescue facilities at Finner Air Station, despite the fact that RACO brought this to your attention last June. It beggars belief that such disregard for the safety and welfare of our air crews should continue 16 months after the tragedy in Tramore.
"Today, air crews will use Finner, set in terrain very similar to Tramore, knowing that should something go wrong, the State does not care enough to provide them with the basic crash rescue facilities. This is particularly ironic considering that those same air crews are dedicated to rescuing others. This is unacceptable."
Lieut Col Allen added: "We demand a properly equipped crash rescue service in Finner now. The time for talking is over, our air crews deserve this basic service." If it were a civilian search and rescue service, he claimed, it would not be permitted to operate by International Civil Aviation Authority regulations. "Why should our members be placed in this position? The Department of Defence is using the military exemption as a cheap option in meeting its commitments."
He said a simple solution to the problem would be to contract out the service to Donegal Fire Service. The conference also heard that the Government had failed in its duty to acquire larger, safer search-and-rescue helicopters.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, told delegates that the Government was about to spend £55 million on new aircraft for the Air Corps, with special priority given to the procurement of new medium-range helicopters.
Six firms had responded to the tender to provide new helicopters. Mr Smith said it was a "top priority" to replace the ageing Fouga and Marchetti training aircraft. He also said all the safety recommendations in the Tramore crash report "are being considered as a matter of priority with a view to their immediate implementation".
Referring to the lack of after-hours air traffic control cover at Waterford Airport on the night of the crash, Mr Smith said his Department had been in negotiations with airport management since March 1999. He said agreement had been reached on June 25th, five days before the accident, "to pay these rates and the airport management was immediately informed accordingly`.
"While it has indicated that staff negotiations at the airport were not yet completed, the assurances already given that after-hours cover would be provided with effect from 1st July 1999 were reiterated by airport management."
The report into the crash, carried out by Air Corps personnel on behalf of the Department of Public Enterprise, said lack of air-traffic control was one of the "systemic causes" of the crash. Defence Forces sources accept the main cause was probably the fatigue and lack of experience of the air crew.