The first woman to be commissioned as a pilot by the Air Corps, Lieut Ann Brogan, was injured in a car crash near Baldonnel Aerodrome yesterday. A colleague, Lieut Shane McNicho las, was also injured when their car was in collision with a lorry at the gates of the airport at 7 p.m.
Lieut Brogan was detained overnight in Tallaght Hospital, where her condition was said to be "comfortable". A Defence Forces spokesman said her injuries were not life-threatening and she is expected to be discharged today or tomorrow.
Lieut McNicholas was also treated in hospital but later discharged.
Earlier in the day, Lieut Brogan had been co-pilot on a Dauphine helicopter on a mission to bring an injured 59-year-old man from Galway to Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
The injured pilots had to be cut from their vehicle after the accident. An Air Corps ambulance was on the scene immediately, and was joined by a Fire Brigade ambulance and gardai from Rathcoole.
An Air Corps spokesman said that because the accident took place so close to the airport, they were able to get an ambulance to the scene immediately.
Lieut Brogan, from Dundrum, Dublin, was commissioned in July 1998 after 21 months of training, and was posted to Baldonnel as a helicopter pilot at the rank of second lieutenant.
At the time of her commissioning in the Curragh, Co Kildare, Capt Roger McGrath, of the Defence Forces press office, said it was a great achievement because "the training for pilots is tough and difficult, with a high failure rate".