An Air Corps helicopter carrying the Minister for Defence from Cork to Dublin last week was forced to make an emergency landing after a warning light indicated problems with oil pressure, it emerged yesterday. The incident appears to be similar to one last Tuesday night when another Air Corps helicopter was forced to land on the Co Wicklow coast. That aircraft is undergoing a service to discover why a gear-box oil-pressure warning light went on during a routine search and rescue exercise.
Both helicopters were able to resume their flights after quick checks on equipment, and contact between the crews and technical staff at the Air Corps headquarters at Baldonnel Aerodrome.
The two machines are part of the fleet of five French-manufactured Dauphin helicopters operated by the Air Corps. They are identical to the helicopter which crashed on the Waterford coast on July 3rd last, with the deaths of four crew members.
According to Defence Forces sources, the incident in which the helicopter carrying the Minister was forced to land happened eight days ago. The Minister, Mr Smith, was returning from a commissioning ceremony for a new Naval Service ship, LE Roisin, in Co Cork. He was accompanied by the Secretary General of his Department, Mr David O'Callaghan.
The helicopter landed in a field in the midlands after a red light began flashing, indicating a problem with oil pressure. According to sources the crew were quickly able to establish the problem and were able to resume their flight within a short time.
Last Tuesday night another oil-pressure light began flashing on a Dauphin helicopter which was taking part in a search and rescue training exercise off Wicklow. The crew landed the aircraft on a beach and contacted technical staff at Baldonnel.
The aircraft sent out alerts, which were picked up by other commercial aircraft and the Marine Rescue Service, which scrambled its rescue helicopter.
However, the Air Corps crew were able to identify the problem and the Dauphin was airborne in under an hour after the emergency landing. It returned to Baldonnel Aerodrome without any further problems.
A review of the Air Corps aircraft fleet has been undertaken over the past two years and the Defence Forces is awaiting the recommendations of a White Paper on defence in the new year.
This should determine what size and type of aircraft the Air Corps will have in the future.
The Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lt-Gen David Stapleton, has said that re-equipment of the Air Corps should be one of the key aspects of any White Paper recommendations.