Air Corps trainees scramble for places

The sky is overcast. The two-seater Marchetti Warrior remains on the ground for the rest of the afternoon. No trainee pilots can fly at Casement Aerodrome while the dense fog hangs overhead. "We were planing to do some night flying," says a smiling Lt Derek Furniss, an instructor at the school, looking hopefully at the grey sky.

"It's such a hard thing to do, to describe the exhilaration of being in the Air Corps and flying," he says. "It's the variation," he adds, sitting back in his light-brown flying suit, trying to describe what he loves about flying. There are rank markings and insignia on the suit, while special pockets are used for carrying maps and navigation notes. An emergency knife is strapped to his calf in case his parachute doesn't unfold and he has to cut himself out.

"It's quite a focused thing," he continues. "All you are thinking about is flying. There's so much going on. It's quite precise. You always have to concentrate. There's a sense of freedom because you're away from everything. "It's a challenge. It's pushing the machine to its limits without being dangerous, without jeopardising its safety or its control." Weather is crucial to a pilot, he continues. "The night before I am constantly listening to the radio. It could determine the type of flying you are going to do." Being an instructor has its own reward. "You have to teach the student everything that they do," he says. As the course progresses and the students become more proficient in flying, "you become more of a monitor."

He can't remember what age he first became interested in being a pilot. "It was something I grew up with from an early age. Nobody in my family was involved in flying or in the military. I'm sure every boy at some stage wants to be a pilot." All through school in Ballinteer Community School, he wanted to be a pilot. He applied in the spring before his Leaving Certificate in 1994. He was then called for his first interview, where he believes the interviewers were looking for motivation and interest.

His heart was always set on a career as a pilot. He passed the various tests: the physical, the psychological and academic. The Air Corps were taking on eight that year. He started the two-year training course in October that year, spending seven months in the Curragh doing basic training before going to Baldonnel.

"Every time you fly with an instructor you're assessed," he explains. "It's completely up to you to fly to a high standard, to get better and to build up your confidence."

He was given his wings in June 1996 and commissioned in July. He has been in Casement Aerodrome for the past two years. His first job was in Gormanstown, Co Meath, with the Army Co-op Squadron, flying Cessnas 172, providing escorts and back-up in a range of operations, such as cash transports, pollution monitoring, fisheries, forestry and wild-life patrol and parachute training with the Army. The variety of the work is huge, he says.

Taking part in a formation flight as part of an aerobatics air show can be one of the year's highlights. Is a pilot's career about adventure or danger? "No," he says. "It's about maturity and responsibility."