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No Role for the Air Corps says Minister for Defence in SAR
What follows neither draws from; nor has any implications for any events in the real world, past, present, or future.
It's a purely philosophical/hypothetical argument of theory. IMO has no association with, nor necessarily agrees with, any of the following.
Have always believed that corporate staff have little incentive to report up and investigate potential, but unrealised, technical issues.
A diligent staff officer is another creature entirely.
One thing an Air Force does well is reporting. Concise, unfiltered, unvarnished.
Major airlines have a Chief Pilot; whose role is, amongst the other functions he/she preforms, similar.
Best practice appears to be to 'pop' the function out of staff, to reduce further the potential for operational conflicts of interest.
One of the current factors affecting the contract negotiations is pilot pay,which the Govt are very keen to see reduced in the next contract, as well as the dilution of some of the Ts and Cs for pilots. They are very, very expensive, in this contract and it is a factor affecting the choice of the next operator. The crash has also had an effect out of all proportion, on the negotiations. The impending report has implications for the current operator, the future operator, the Coast Guard, the AC and by extension the DoD and several other agencies. The current ad for an "aviation manager" for the Coasties is as a direct result of the crash.
The crash has brought a lot to light from regulation (lack of), hard/software, safety reports, operational issues.
For that reason it is only right that it should, at the end of the day 4 people died in the course of the work duties.
I wouldn't have thought that the contractor would be providing that level of detail - just what service do you want ok it will cost xyz
The role is not a pure "safety officer", as such. It's a new role, with SMS and oversight, as well as contract handling. From what I read of it, it's a rather unique mesh of tasks and responsibilities. It's aimed at a fairly narrow range of people, with quite a broad skillset and qualifications.
The nature of a military is follow orders, make it happen, don’t question and accept risk.
It is very hard to change that once indoctrinated into it, it is organisational culture. That isn’t specific to the DF or the AC. At times that culture is very positive.
The DF also moves it personnel around a lot and that could be a pro or con.
It is also difficult when they aren’t resourced correctly to complete the required tasks.
To clarify it, imho, will be hard to recruit and retain people with the right skill set for a safety office as they are moved around so much in the DF
Safety considerations need to be built into everything
I’m not saying it isn’t btw
Are you familiar with the Air Corps flight safety structure, culture and reporting mechanisms?
Military aviation has, particularly in recent years, developed a very different culture and attitude towards safety.
It is very different and not comparable to the rock apes sending troops up the middle with smoke.
There is also work being done, albeit at a glacial pace, to develop a DF "Regulator" which is designed to act independently and report directly to the top about safety issues or occurrences across the DF.
Are you familiar with the Air Corps flight safety structure, culture and reporting mechanisms?
Military aviation has, particularly in recent years, developed a very different culture and attitude towards safety.
It is very different and not comparable to the rock apes sending troops up the middle with smoke.
There is also work being done, albeit at a glacial pace, to develop a DF "Regulator" which is designed to act independently and report directly to the top about safety issues or occurrences across the DF.
Are you familiar with the Air Corps flight safety structure, culture and reporting mechanisms?
Military aviation has, particularly in recent years, developed a very different culture and attitude towards safety.
It is very different and not comparable to the rock apes sending troops up the middle with smoke.
There is also work being done, albeit at a glacial pace, to develop a DF "Regulator" which is designed to act independently and report directly to the top about safety issues or occurrences across the DF.
Would that mean they are going to appoint an Inspector General, as legislated for in the Defence Act?
Has the DF ever had one appointed since the Defence Act was passed?
It was the year of fire...the year of destruction...the year we took back what was ours.
It was the year of rebirth...the year of great sadness...the year of pain...and the year of joy.
It was a new age...It was the end of history.
It was the year everything changed.
And not too be overlooked is that their fleet of 8x NH-90's and 5x AW-109's are providing air lift for an army 2/3 of ours!
In 2020 we are not quite that small. The NZ Regular Army totals 4710 and 1841 are in the NZ Army Reserve (some 6551 in uniform). Restructuring into 1 Brigade Group, 1 TraDoc Group and expanding the chicken stranglers into a full regiment was the coherent thing to do.
But I do get your point that the Irish Defence Force has a numbers and resourcing bias too much towards the Army at the expense of the Air and Naval components. If it was located in central Europe like Austria the forces balance would be more appropriate than an island in the north-eastern Atlantic!
As for helicopters we don't have enough including the Navies 8 SeaSprites for military taskings even though we don't have to worry about Search and Rescue (A NZ Police lead agency role who go to the regional Rescue Helicopters Services or civilian CG Air Patrol nine times out of ten before the NZDF is requested via ministerial channels) and the Police (They have their own independent Eagle Flight). Thus piling more roles like SAR onto an at present undermanned and under resourced Air Corps is probably not a good idea without more resourcing.
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