Transport Aircraft

Ironically the IAC have already been based in SNN!

The Dauphin was based at Shannon for a few years; in a rented hangar/shed, with the crews being flown back and forth to Dublin, staying in rented houses and they needed an eleven man crew including two drivers (instead of a usual crew of six) and they were all fed at the hotel every day because the shed they rented had no facilities in place...the usual piss poor planning and doomed to fail from the get go!

Wasn’t that a bit of a disaster as well though? Seem to remember reading something about the service rates falling off a cliff until they were withdrawn?

Yeah, its a shame that the planned build out of the AC at the time never happened, like everything else, would have given us a totally different animal of an AC had it happened, but politics and head in the sand killed that off.

What HSE aircraft at Dublin Airport?

Its only a nighttime service turns out. For what they are charging the state it would if paid for that 5th pc12 and alot if wages.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/news/hse-will-spend-16m-on-air-ambulance-to-plug-gaps-in-emergency-service-39692207.html

The Air Corps will not go to Shannon unless they are point blank ordered to do so. When they had the Dauphin there (and in other airports),it was always operated on the basis that Baldonnel was the home and the aircraft would always revert there for even the slightest maintenance. Bal is the nerve centre so no stores for aircraft would be sent to outstations, no storeman (civvies especially) would go there and the admin system stayed firmly rooted in Baldonnel. Same with the current operation of the 135 as a medevac aircraft. Like all outstation operations, it is run on a minimalist basis that costs the AC budget as little as possible and the ordinary military bureaucracy continues to operate. You must have storemen, drivers, admin people etc etc and the lads are all on "sub" while they are detached from Baldonnel. It costs a lot more than a similar civvy operation to run a single helicopter "off the reservation".

Ffs.

I guess my expression of frustration is more to do with the general system of things in Ireland, where the right thing to do for the good of the particular service and for the public who pay for it, tends to be the last thing that ends up being done.

While I respect the work of the Air Corps and all the DF, the most advantageous location for their operations is where the Government and the Military authorities decide it should be, for the benefit of the State, not where the personnel decide it is because of where they will or will not go.

In my opinion, given the restricted curtilage that Baldonnell now has and how surrounded it is becoming with the ever expanding City, coupled with the increased demand for Air Corps operations off the south and west coast, the current base is no longer fit for purpose.

In a way , the air corp would move if there was full government / department commitment to a move , but you can't blame individuals for not wanting to move because they have a life ...

But if the opportunitys for advancement as well as (hopefully) job satisfaction lie outside of Baldonel , and there are perks to move - available housing ect or help with available transport to suit shift patterns .. and it was evident that this was a full and serious move with a funded decent plan then it'd happen pretty quick...

The main reason I could see for any move , would be access to a 24 hour runway , there really isn't much point in the air corp having tower ,apron staff and fire crews sitting there 24/ 7 ,for the odd time that a plane is needed out of hours .

I don't think so. In many ways it has the opposite problems to Baldonnell, too remote, too exposed, too short a runway and a serious issue with crosswinds operations for the type of aircraft the AC operate.

I tend to promote Shannon for a few reasons. It can accommodate any size of Aircraft in the World. It is co-located with a good variety of community, facilities, services and other employments in the nearby area and Limerick City. The infrastructure on the ground is first class, yet the airfield and the passenger and freight operations are well under-capacity and the whole area would benefit from an Air Corps presence.

I've been into Changi Airport in Singapore a few times and that has a large airbase on the eastern side of the main airport complex that utilises the main runways while maintaining a secure complex with separate external access. Shannon has the capacity to do exactly that at a number of locations on the airfield.

The operation of the MATS could be perfectly well accommodated in small quarters at Dublin or Weston as needed.

Its Air Corps not Air or Aer Corp & its Baldonnel, not Baldonnell. For alot of talk about that branch alot cant either spell its Title correctly or give it its actual Base Name which is Casement.

IMO The Air Corps should be at Shannon, in fact they should be a nearly entirely rotary force dedicated to Army Co-Operation, as it stands they can move a handful of Troops nothing more.

What’s on in Spain?

Hang him by the balls out the back. or strap him to the roof of a PC12

RTE news : The politics of buying a long-range military airplane

That was a particularly ignorant comment from Pringle alright, made himself look a complete fool.