27 thoughts on “Ask A Broadsheet Reader”

      1. Redacted

        9 Turboprop PC9 built by Pilatus in Stans Switzerland. They serve as ground attack and training aircraft in a number of air forces.

  5. TomRed

    They’re called a Pilatus PC-9M and the Air Corps operate seven of them, not a ‘couple’ as DubLoony would have you think. One was lost in a fatal accident in 2009.

    I wish people would give them more credit – they’re professionals who work and train hard.

    1. DubLoony

      TomRed, I hope I didn’t give any impression that they are not professional.
      7 training planes is still very few.

      Our air defenses are wholly inadequate, and certainly not the Air Corps fault that that is the case.
      We have no means of intercepting suspicious aircraft over our territory.
      All trans-Atlantic planes pass over through our airspace, we are a major route that is undefended.

      Recent Russian aircraft activity in Irish airspace should be a cause for concern.
      http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/passenger-planes-dodged-russian-bombers-in-irish-controlled-airspace-664602.html

      1. Boy M5

        We have no requirement for a big airforce so less of the giddy war talk.

        And the reality is, The RAF and USAF would over us in a flash.

        Stick to your Airfix and military magazines.

        1. shknbk

          Boy M5, each year Ireland allocates 1 Billion euro to defence spending, most of which goes into maintaining a token amount of military capability, with no real need or ability for any of it to be called into question. The only time in modern history where our military has actually been *required* to do anything related to national sovereignty/defence, is when Russian bombers fly off our west coast. Obviously no one is expecting us to be able to repel an invasion. But standard practise in these scenarios for any nation, is to intercept the foreign aircraft (especially as they were also flying dangerously with their transponders turned off).

          Us, being one of the very few countries in the world with no military jets, are unable to do so, which has resulted in the British military flying over Ireland recently off their own accord. I believe they didn’t even inform our government until afterwards on one occassion.

          It has nothing to do with “giddy war talk”, or even necessarily war (hijackings require interceptions, and we have a busy transatlantic air corridor over our heads). We’re unable to perform one of the most basic, routine air policing functions of any country, leading to a lack of sovereign control over our own airspace, and general embarrassment. We don’t require “a big airforce” at all to achieve this. A token few jet trainers or f16s (which are both very affordable) would do the trick. People don’t even realize our air corps has always had various fighter jets since the 1950s. It was only in the 90s we got rid of them.

      2. Redacted

        Dub Looney, no point in having aircraft capable of intercepts, mostly because we don’t have the radar to pick up long range threats.

        For Ireland to justify a jet force for interceptions, we would need to invest in A new long range radar system, Keep the jets on 24 hour standby everyday, and even with all that and everything going 100% you would probably only be escorting the target aircraft for 5-10 minutes before it passed into British airspace.

    2. Mary

      ‘Fatal accident’ … perhaps incompetent training in poor weather conditions would be a better description.

      1. dav

        wasn’t that filmed in wicklow and the peoples republic of cork??
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Max#Production

        “Pilots from the Irish Air Corps helped recreate the live dog-fight scenes, supported by number of civilians, including Charles Boddington and Derek Piggott. Piggott was the only pilot willing to fly beneath the spans of a bridge. Taking the role of both German pilots and with multiple takes from contrasting camera angles, he ended up flying 15 times under the wide span of the Carrickabrack Railway Viaduct in Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland, and 17 times under the narrower span. “

        1. Clampers Outside!

          Aye, that’s it, some scenes shot in Dublin too, as there’s a scene in a car where they are supposed to be going through Berlin and the Christchurch / Dublinia buildings are in the backdrop…
          Loved that flick as a kid… was a bit confused though, as I wanted to be a German out the back after :)

          1. dav

            Little did you know that your country would be sold out to german bondholders by successive civilwarshirt governments

  9. graven

    Saw a couple of these over Lansdowne during the Leinster v Munster match the weekend before last. Lovely planes.

  11. Slick Rick

    The President of Cyprus is in Ireland on a visit, they fly over Áras an Uachtaráin for the ceremonial arrival of heads of state

  12. Iwerzon

    A quick google search of their call -sign states that they were last seen 200 miles north of Bermuda in 1946.

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