Faults discovered in Air Corps’ maritime patrol planes

The Air Corps' two maritime patrol planes were out of commission for almost four weeks after faults were detected in their elevator trim tabs, it has emerged.

The faults were found last month after the Air Corps was alerted to a possible problem by Airbus military of Spain, which made the two Casa CN235 planes. An inspection found that the two planes did have the faults, understood to be cracking in the elevator trim tabs.

The tabs are part of the plane’s tail mechanism and are part of the trailing edge of the tail’s horizontal stabiliser. They help the pilot to keep the plane in level flight.

After the faults were confirmed, "the elevators were removed and dispatched to Seville for the required maintenance action", the Defence Forces said in a statement.

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It said the planes returned to service last week and “immediately undertook a resupply mission to Beirut, for Irish troops serving with Unifil”.

The Casa planes entered service in 1994 and are a vital component of the Air Corps, which mainly uses them for maritime patrols.

Aerial surveillance

Pilots work closely with the Naval Service to patrol the Irish Economic Zone, a maritime area of approximately 212,000 square kilometres which is 16 per cent of the total European Union sea fisheries, an area almost five times the land area of Ireland.

The planes are also involved on inshore maritime patrol and aerial surveillance, search and rescue, air ambulance, and for transporting supplies to Ireland’s overseas peacekeeping missions.

The Casa is a twin-engined, propellor-driven, medium-sized plane in service generally since 1988. The Air Corps has the CD235-100 model which has more aerodynamic engine casing than the earlier model and is therefore more environmentally friendly.

So far this year the 101 Squadron, which flies the Casas, has competed 177 maritime patrols, 33 air ambulance missions to the UK, two re-supply missions to Lebanon and in total more than 1,600 flying hours.