Pilatus PC-9M

[Brian McGrath]

And while all that was going on Air Corps 112 was into Galway Hospital from Knock and carried out other transfers, proud of our Defence Forces well done all

[Rhodes]

"Sunday's opener at Bray Air Display was Emerald, a formation flight with Irish Air Corps' Team Silver and an Aer Lingus A320."

[meridian]

Cool video above

Just briefly back to Adriatic Strike 2019, AFM August 2019 mentions Ireland as a observer too. Short article on it this year, think there was a more in depth article on last years exercise in said magazine last year.

[meridian]

Twitter mention by the OC Air Corps College of a possible change of paint scheme to similar to the PC12 in the future, nice! Would make a nice addition to the updates planned for the PC9 (TCAS and EGPWS noted in the DF Capability Development Plan).

* https://twitter.com/OC_ACCollege/sta...92152270770177

[na grohmiti]

It would be nice if all our fixed wing were the same colour(s). No reason why they couldn't be.
Someone (who isn't colourblind) should use their photoshop skilz to show us what that would look like.
Keep the roundel though (in some format).

We managed to get all our helis one colour.

[GoneToTheCanner]

The advantage of painting them a darker grey is that they would be more visible. Right now,PC-9s are very hard to see against a cloudy background. You can hear them from miles away but they are very hard to spot. That's the upside. The downside is that there are always better things to spend money on, than paint, the TCAS and EGPWS being of rather more utility and a pressing need than a coat of paint. Paint is , of course, important for it's function of preventing corrosion of the metal and non-metal surfaces and rather more of a priority than just painting the things for fashion's sake. How about painting them green, to remind the Army that the Air Corps cares about them;-)

[na grohmiti]

The advantage of painting them a darker grey is that they would be more visible. Right now,PC-9s are very hard to see against a cloudy background. You can hear them from miles away but they are very hard to spot. That's the upside. The downside is that there are always better things to spend money on, than paint, the TCAS and EGPWS being of rather more utility and a pressing need than a coat of paint. Paint is , of course, important for it's function of preventing corrosion of the metal and non-metal surfaces and rather more of a priority than just painting the things for fashion's sake. How about painting them green, to remind the Army that the Air Corps cares about them;-)

I'm sure the next time they go for a repaint a new colour scheme can be applied without breaking the bank.

[Brian McGrath]

It would be nice if all our fixed wing were the same colour(s). No reason why they couldn't be.
Someone (who isn't colourblind) should use their photoshop skilz to show us what that would look like.
Keep the roundel though (in some format).

We managed to get all our helis one colour.

https://twitter.com/Rotorblur/status...41848856080387

https://twitter.com/Rotorblur/status...41801691176963

https://twitter.com/Rotorblur/status...35842221920256

[Chuck]

It would be nice if all our fixed wing were the same colour(s). No reason why they couldn't be.
Someone (who isn't colourblind) should use their photoshop skilz to show us what that would look like.
Keep the roundel though (in some format).

We managed to get all our helis one colour.

There's quite a few anoraks on social media getting very upset over the lack of roundels on the PC12. I don't get the obsession myself.

Also. Stand by your bunk for a colour change to the rotary fleet. Unsurprisingly, it's not green. More akin to the new Spanish NH90s.

[apod]

There's quite a few anoraks on social media getting very upset over the lack of roundels on the PC12.

Any official reason as to why they were omitted?? Less visible from below when on a surveillance tasking??

Also. Stand by your bunk for a colour change to the rotary fleet. Unsurprisingly, it's not green. More akin to the new Spanish NH90s.

Couldn't have green Helis doing SAR now could we????

[Truck Driver]

I'm sure the next time they go for a repaint a new colour scheme can be applied without breaking the bank.

Read somewhere a figure of €60k being mentioned for an aircraft paint job?
Might have been for an airliner though, can't remember the context

[na grohmiti]

https://twitter.com/Rotorblur/status...41848856080387

https://twitter.com/Rotorblur/status...41801691176963

https://twitter.com/Rotorblur/status...35842221920256

Now do fixed wing.

[Chuck]

Any official reason as to why they were omitted?? Less visible from below when on a surveillance tasking??


Couldn't have green Helis doing SAR now could we????

I can't imagine it was a visibility issue for the ISR role but who knows. An easy compromise wouldve been to have subdued roundels which wouldnt have required much work but it wasn't chosen. The good idea fairy will come out eventually.

The SAR hype train is in full swing. It's being pushed hard on social media and plenty of ex-ers, most of whom were never involved in it whatsoever so make of that what you will. Just proves the white paper isn't worth the paper its written on.

[Chuck]

Read somewhere a figure of €60k being mentioned for an aircraft paint job?
Might have been for an airliner though, can't remember the context

Not sure of the cost but depending on the maintenance schedule it can be a convenient time to paint while the airframe is partly dismantled.

While it serves a purpose for corrosion as already stated. There's no benefit to a single color fleet really. Its all about the 'corporate branding'.

[DeV]

Any official reason as to why they were omitted?? Less visible from below when on a surveillance tasking??

Read somewhere that they are on the underside

[na grohmiti]

There's quite a few anoraks on social media getting very upset over the lack of roundels on the PC12. I don't get the obsession myself.

Also. Stand by your bunk for a colour change to the rotary fleet. Unsurprisingly, it's not green. More akin to the new Spanish NH90s.

Very Naval looking.

[Chuck]

Very Naval looking.

If only we had some ships for them to land on.

Proper ships, which are designed and built to have organic heli assets. Not the token effort thats mooted for the MRV.

[Chuck]

Read somewhere that they are on the underside

Don't believe all you read.

[GoneToTheCanner]

Read somewhere a figure of €60k being mentioned for an aircraft paint job?
Might have been for an airliner though, can't remember the context

An A320 repaint. I might have mentioned it.

[GoneToTheCanner]

An awful lot of the repaint cost is in the preparation such as the protection of transparencies, the stripping of old paints and decals and the sheer amount of hands-on manhours involved in sanding and pre-paint work. Even a relatively small aircraft like a PC-9 takes quite a bit of time to prep. A lot of airliner and business jet painting is really "wrapping", like fitting van decals and a huge amount of time is devoted, after painting or wrapping, on getting the multitude of decals back on correctly, especially all the warning and cautionary decals on the openable panels. It's not something you decide to do lightly,as it could take a month to paint an aircraft, if you go for actual paint and even a couple of weeks for a "wrap".

[Rocinante]

https://twitter.com/Rotorblur/status...41848856080387

https://twitter.com/Rotorblur/status...41801691176963

https://twitter.com/Rotorblur/status...35842221920256

OK, I'm blocked by them...and I don't know why...

[Laners]

OK, I'm blocked by them...and I don't know why...

Were you at the insurrection in Washington DC by any chance .

[na grohmiti]

Some people have settings to avoid views by those without profile pictures etc.

[Rocinante]

Were you at the insurrection in Washington DC by any chance .

Ah...looks around.....no?

[Graylion]

Any official reason as to why they were omitted?? Less visible from below when on a surveillance tasking??


Couldn't have green Helis doing SAR now could we????

But why blue? SAR should be dayglo orange