IMPROVED cover for air/sea search and rescue on the eastern seaboard is not expected to be implemented until next December, when a medium load emergency helicopter will be based at Baldonnel aerodrome, west Dublin.
The new helicopter will be "civilian registered" and accountable under contract to the Irish Marine Emergency Service - similar to the existing medium range helicopter flown by a civilian crew and based at Shannon. However, the east coast helicopter - which will be expected to provide cover for a stretch of water crossed by an estimated 25 million people every year - will be flown by Corps crew.
Air Corps participation will follow "a period of relevant training", the Minister for the Marine, Mr Barrett, has said. The existing short range Air Corps Dauphin cover at Baldonnel will be relocated to the south coast, but no final decision has been taken on whether the base should be at Waterford or Cork. The Baldonnel based Dauphin undertook 64 marine emergency missions last year.
The changes are part of a £19 million plan for air/sea search and rescue, which was drawn up after the loss of a Co Wexford fisherman off Howth in November 1995. The accident highlighted the lack of night time helicopter availability on the east coast and continued reliance on the RAE. The Air Corps has no medium range craft, in spite of a recommendation in a 1990 Government report on search and rescue.
Tenders for the east coast service have been placed in the EU Journal this week and it is expected to cost between £3 and £4 million annually. Tenderers will be asked to quote for a three to five year contract, which will allow the Minister "flexibility to consider the options available in the future for the provision of both the east and west coast contracts", the Department of the Marine says.
The improved cover will not be available in time for the summer season, however, which has become even busier for marine rescue on the east coast, according to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Apart from crewing arrangements, the new service will be similar to that at Shannon, which is run by a Scottish company, Bond Helicopters. The east coast craft is expected to be a Sikorsky S61N or equivalent, which is capable of a 15 minute response time by day and 45 minutes by night and all weather flying with specialised direction finding and infra red equipment. It has a maximum range of 468 nautical miles.
A spokesman for Bond Helicopters told The Irish Times yesterday the company was confident it would meet the target date with "much more advanced equipment" than that used by the previous contract holders, Irish Helicopters, over the last five years. Two Sikorskys are based at Shannon and the equipment is currently being tested, with independent witnesses from the Department of the Marine and the British Civil Aviation Authority, on a third aircraft, the spokesman said.
A publicity day for the west coast service is to be hosted by Bond Helicopters and the Department of the Marine at Shannon tomorrow.
