The Department of Defence has confirmed that it authorised a trip to the United States by a Casa maritime patrol aircraft earlier this year to demonstrate its capabilities to the US Coastguard service, writes Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent.
However, the Department will not comment further on the trip, which took place at the request of a commercial company dealing with the US Coastguard. The Air Corps was left with only one Casa maritime patrol aircraft on duty for fisheries protection from February 18th to early March.
An account of the transatlantic flight in the current issue of An Cosant≤ir, the Defence Forces magazine, quotes "surprise" within the Air Corps that the trip was authorised.
The EADS-Casa team wished to use the aircraft as part of its submission to the US Coastguard's integrated deep-water programme. The 10,000 nautical mile flight was the first by an Air Corps turbo-prop aircraft across the Atlantic.