Three former Air Corps pilots who have helped to save many lives off the Irish coastline have criticised the Government for its "inaction" on replacing the Dauphin helicopter fleet.
The three pilots have expressed alarm at the Government's lack of any sense of urgency about the craft's capabilities, over six months after the Tramore, Co Waterford, crash in which four airmen lost their lives.
The short-range helicopter has inadequate fuel capacity, is not suitable for night search and rescue off the coastline and is not equipped for a return to base in poor visibility, they state.
Air Corps helicopters no longer operate from the rooftop helipad of Government buildings, because the twin-engine craft has no single engine performance in hover mode.
Single-engine relief in the event of failure is effective only when cruising. In the event of an engine failure when carrying out a rescue, a Dauphin would be forced to crash-land or ditch into the sea, they say.
The three pilots - Capt Paul Hayes (retd), Capt Andy Whelan (retd) and Capt Kieran Parker (retd) - have left the Defence Forces, but are still at risk of censure for speaking publicly. While not wishing to prejudice the official inquiry into Tramore, they say their views are shared by many former colleagues.
They also express support for Comdt Aidan Flanagan, head of the helicopter search and rescue wing, who was the subject of an investigation after criticising Government policy in the presence of the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, at a function last November.
Comdt Flanagan had warned the Minister that he would have difficulty holding on to experienced pilots if an incentive scheme was not reintroduced, and he also called for funding for medium-lift search and rescue helicopters.
Comdt Flanagan succeeded Lieut Col Ken Byrne, who had also raised serious questions about the Dauphin's capability in these hostile sea and weather conditions. The commandant, who is described by colleagues as fairly conservative, received much support from his colleagues, and from Mrs Maria O'Flaherty, widow of Capt Dave O'Flaherty who died at Tramore.
In a letter published in The Irish Times on November 25th last, Mrs O'Flaherty said it was "about time that the people of this country fully recognised that the airmen and women of the helicopter wing in Baldonnel are providing a professional and vital service with an ageing fleet".
Described after the Tramore crash as "state of the art", the Dauphin was never considered to be suitable for the job it was eventually deployed to do when the search and rescue network was expanded.
The fleet was ordered in 1982 with EU funding, ostensibly for fishery protection. The lease on the medium-range Puma helicopter, used very successfully during the "big snow", had not been renewed.
The fleet was built in France and introduced in 1986. It came with a "Rolls-Royce cachet" as a popular VIP transport vehicle, due to its fast cruising speed of 150 knots. However, its unstable winching platform in sea states above two metres meant that it was always going to be a light aircraft, according to the pilots; larger aircraft are inherently more stable in such conditions.
Inadequate fuel endurance - the maximum being three hours - is further reduced by up to an hour when it is carrying its full search and rescue kit, due to its poor power-to-weight ratio, the pilots say. The lack of a Category III landing system or equivalent means it is not equipped for return to base in poor visibility, they state. Also, the Dauphin is unable to carry more than two to three survivors, which is well short of the crew levels on most fishing vessels off the Irish coastline.
The three pilots, two of whom now work for Aer Lingus, have several decades of search and rescue experience between them. They are able to give a detailed chronology illustrating how long-running tensions between military and civilian decision-makers, and the inevitable empire-building that accompanied expansion of emergency services in the early 1990s, contributed to the situation.
That expansion dates back to 1989, when the Government commissioned a report in response to the west coast campaign led by Ms Joan McGinley. Compiled by a group chaired by former Garda Commissioner Eamon Doherty, the report recommended the purchase of medium-range helicopters for the Air Corps.
"This is what we were led to believe, even as the Dauphin was deployed to Shannon, and then to Finner, in Co Donegal, and Tramore, Co Waterford," Capt Paul Hayes says. "There has never been any clarification since then of that recommendation."
Instead, governments have opted to offer contracts for medium-range requirements, now identified as necessary on the west coast at Shannon and the east coast at Dublin. However, the Government's Price Waterhouse review of the Naval Service and Air Corps, which has now been subsumed into the forthcoming White Paper on Defence, did recommend purchase of four medium-lift helicopters for Air Corps maritime search and rescue.
The three pilots state that the "brain drain" from the Defence wing has been fuelled by a lack of confidence in Government policy. Since 1986, some 23 Dauphin pilots have retired. In one year alone, 1998, some 40 per cent of Dauphin captains left.
Speaking in the Dail last October, the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, acknowledged that Dauphins were unlikely to be used again for search and rescue work following the Tramore crash. He stressed that all the equipment was fully examined to ensure the safety of pilots and personnel.
Two reported incidents of emergency landings involving Dauphins since then - one of which involved the Minister as passenger at the time - are not regarded as significant, as both were procedural.
The fact that they were reported at all is due to the role of the Department of Public Enterprise's Air Accident Investigation Unit, which now monitors military incidents.
Meanwhile, the Minister's views on Dauphin replacement are expected to be reflected in the White Paper on Defence, which is now ready for Cabinet. The three pilots cannot understand why no decision has been taken before now.
"Search and rescue is a high-risk sector with a maximum career of 20 years," they stress. "Contracting out, as the Government has already done for medium-range work, is not a viable long-term option. Universally, military pilots would agree that for commercial reasons civilian contractors will strive to meet minimum legal training requirements."