`Hitch' restricts new west coast rescue service

THE west coast air-sea helicopter rescue service will continue to be severely restricted during the next few weeks due to a "technical hitch" identified by the new Government contract-holder.

The Department of the Marine has confirmed that the February 28th deadline for provision of a fully equipped rescue aircraft at Shannon will not be met by the new contract holder, Bond Helicopters of Scotland. A meeting involving the company's senior management and the Department is due to take place in Dublin today.

The company faces a penalty clause, but the Department said yesterday that it had made "no decision" on whether this would be invoked. The penalty or fine in lieu involves a 33 per cent reduction in the fee for every month missed.

Before Christmas, the Department said it was "confident" the deadline would be met. Irish Helicopters, which lost the contract to Bond, has expressed "astonishment" at the Department's attitude to the missed deadline.

Mr Stephen Bond, managing director of Bond Helicopters, said yesterday that an electrical fault had delayed verification and testing of vital autohover equipment in the Sikorsky S-61. A back-up helicopter without autohover gear has been based at Shannon since January 1st, but has been restricted in its operation.

Autohover is computer-assisted navigational equipment which permits the aircraft to hold a fixed position above a vessel or body and carry out a rescue in poor visibility or at night. The system has been installed on a Sikorsky, Mr Bond said, but the identification of a design fault in the electrical system had obstructed testing and this had been compounded by bad weather. The company informed the Minister for the Marine, Mr Barrett, of the hitch in a letter dated February 20th.

When the Shannon contract for the Department's Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES) came up for renewal, there was criticism at the decision to award it to Bond Helicopters on a cost, rather than expertise, basis its quote being 6 per cent lower than the bid from Irish Helicopters.

The Scottish company was given a two-month extension to fit autohover gear, though this gear is already installed in Irish Helicopters craft. However, most of the former Irish Helicopters rescue crew were employed by the new company.

Yesterday, Mr Ray Kenny, chief executive of Irish Helicopters said the IMES had always indicated it would "never contemplate" delaying introduction of the contract helicopter beyond February 28th, and the company would be "astonished" if it was to consider this now.