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Cessna Replacement - The Options

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  • Some of the commercial schools such as AFTA in Cork would take them in a heartbeat, provided they got them for near nothing, of course. Compared to flying school trainers, the Air Corps Cessnas are immaculate. A lot of flying school aircraft are well battered compared to them. Cessnas are designed to have long lives so having ten thousand hours on them wouldnt be unusual. I know of one civvy one that reached 12,000 hours and had it's wings reskinned and was put back in service.

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    • Remaining 5 retired yesterday with 63,578 hrs

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      • Originally posted by DeV View Post
        Remaining 5 retired yesterday with 63,578 hrs
        For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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        • Saw a pair of them low in close formation around Naas on Thursday. Sweet image, thanks lads. Great to see them flying with someone else in the future if the frames are that good.

          The intro of the PC12s seems to be one of the most 'black' programmes going lol No info on when they'll arrive, their status or even an updated picture. Definitely bound for whisper:Abbeyshrule:whisper

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          • Shhh now.
            For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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            • Best of luck to them. I hope they go to good homes and arent wasted. I left enough sweat in them but learned a lot from them, too. Great aircraft and , bar the Alouettes, probably the most utility gained from one airframe in the Corps.

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              • Reims Rocket FR172H Stand Down Ceremony

                "After 47 years of service to the state, the 5 remaining (of 9 total) Reims Rocket FR172H aircraft were stood down from service.
                The first 4 aircraft entered service on October 4th 1972 and had their last flight yesterday on October 4th 2019.

                Their reliability and consistency has been unmatched, and a testament to this was their fleet hours of 63,578 hours. These were clocked up carrying out various mission roles including border surveillance, explosive escorts, cash escorts, in-shore maritime surveillance, target towing, bog surveys, wildlife surveys, general transportation flights and even one air ambulance mission!

                Every pilot and technician had their 'favourite' aircraft and we were delighted to welcome all who had worked on the aircraft into Casement Aerodrome to celebrate this occasion.
                These aircraft will be replaced by 3 state of the art multi-role Pilatus PC-12NG Spectre aircraft capable of carrying out ISR missions, Air ambulance and logistics flights."

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                • Equivalent to €280,000 each today. Money well spent.
                  For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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                  • Have the PC-12s been ordered yet? Does anybody know? I was looking for a Defender successor and found this: https://www.diamondaircraft.com/en/s...-mpp/overview/

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                    • Originally posted by Graylion View Post
                      Have the PC-12s been ordered yet? Does anybody know? I was looking for a Defender successor and found this: https://www.diamondaircraft.com/en/s...-mpp/overview/
                      They were ordered a while back, think the first was meant to be in this quarter don't know if that's slipped or not.

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                      • So what's going to be the daily mission profile of the new aircraft? Clearly there are no vital domestic missions to be carried out, or else the Cessnas would have soldiered on until new aircraft arrived.

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                        • The Defender would carry out surveillance, if not the Garda helis. The Air Corps learnt from the Alouettes /Gazelles / Dauphins that you should establish a firm cut off date to remove an aircraft from circulation, as they could linger on in irregular service. Removing an aircraft from the fleet requires isolating and quarantining it's supply pool, transferring it's core pilot group to other aircraft, retraining techs on other aircraft and removing dedicated tooling from stores, as well as all the written and digital literature from the system, as well as securing the safe storage of all logbooks and records. There's also the consideration of phasing out Avgas and piston engine oil and all it's dedicated refuelling kit. If you start to bring in a new type, over the existing type still being in service, you can run into trouble very quickly, for simple things like hangarage, storage of records, training and so on.

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                          • Originally posted by GoneToTheCanner View Post
                            The Defender would carry out surveillance, if not the Garda helis. The Air Corps learnt from the Alouettes /Gazelles / Dauphins that you should establish a firm cut off date to remove an aircraft from circulation, as they could linger on in irregular service. Removing an aircraft from the fleet requires isolating and quarantining it's supply pool, transferring it's core pilot group to other aircraft, retraining techs on other aircraft and removing dedicated tooling from stores, as well as all the written and digital literature from the system, as well as securing the safe storage of all logbooks and records. There's also the consideration of phasing out Avgas and piston engine oil and all it's dedicated refuelling kit. If you start to bring in a new type, over the existing type still being in service, you can run into trouble very quickly, for simple things like hangarage, storage of records, training and so on.
                            Hangarage. Now there is an interesting question. How much unused space is there at the Don?

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                            • Originally posted by Graylion View Post
                              Hangarage. Now there is an interesting question. How much unused space is there at the Don?


                              Not a lot

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                              • Rumour has it the PC12 will not be delivered on time, with the first aircraft not now due until summer 2020.



                                Don has always been a good source on military matters in Ireland, and is rarely, if ever, wrong. There are more details in later tweets, but it is cumbersome to post them here.
                                For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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