Madam, - Please allow me correct D.K. Henderson's assertion (July 16th) about a "state-of-the-art" radar system based at Baldonnel. Unfortunately, no such equipment has ever existed.
The Air Corps uses Dublin Airport-based equipment and the radar information is fed over to a screen in the ATC centre in Baldonnel. So when the Dublin system coughs, Baldonnel does too. The "golf ball" at Baldonnel, familiar to many, houses an antiquated GCA (talkdown) radar, dating from the the 1980s, used occasionally for pilot or controller training, but of no practical use today.
And why does the Air Corps rely on civilian equipment for day-to-day operations? Ask your local TD, or the Departments of Defence or Finance, or the "NIMBYs" who objected whenever there was a sniff of investment in the new equipment or longer runways that might have led to Baldonnel becoming the viable second airport that Dublin so badly needs. - Yours, etc,
S. HENDRICK (Flt/Sgt Retd), Celbridge, Co Kildare.