Department of Defence tells Air Corps that €8m government Learjet needs to be taken out of service

The Department of Defence told the Air Corps that “all confidence” in the €8 million government Learjet was gone and that it needed to be taken out of service full time.

In an email Department of Defence secretary general Jacqui McCrum said the aircraft had yet again let them down after Minister Simon Harris arrived at Baldonnel for a scheduled flight to Belgium only to be told he could not fly.

In a message to the Defence Forces chief-of-Staff Seán Clancy, she wrote: “As discussed, all confidence in the Lear is gone. I know that [staff member] was speaking to [Air Corps] about the retirement of same and that a report is to be [or is] being prepared.

“I will await your comments, but in my view it has to be taken out of service full time now. We cannot provide an appropriate [government transport] service with it, and we cannot risk Ministers missing critical meetings or being stranded.”

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In January it emerged that the Defence Forces must spend almost €500,000 on training pilots for the ailing government jet despite official warnings the aircraft will not last another year.

The Air Corps is seeking a private company to provide training for 12 pilots a year to fly the 30-year-old Learjet 45 in a contract which will last at least two years. Late last year the Government announced plans to spend about €45 million on a modern aircraft to replace the jet.

Officials say they need to continue training pilots on the outgoing aircraft as it is still in use in several roles, including as an air ambulance, and training courses must be secured well in advance due to high global demand for Learjet courses.

The latest controversy began in early December when Minister for Higher Education Mr Harris was due to travel on an early-morning flight to Brussels only for the jet to be deemed out of service at the last minute.

An email from an Air Corps officer said: “I informed Minister Harris of the issue in person and outlined some potential timelines based on other aircraft types. Based on this he advised that they would not plan to travel to Brussels today.”

In further messages, the latest failure was described as a tech issue with a battery sensor.

The Department of Defence said the records reflected a number of occasions on which the aircraft had been unserviceable but that discussions remained ongoing on the future of the jet, which is currently in the UK for further maintenance work.

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