finner air station

[pilatus]

Blue Max as you said in the new airbase thread about finner being used for aircorps firing excercises i think your idea concerning Finner is a good one,because the army have a lot of groung there but would probably need more before it would be made a firing range for aircraft, although it would be ideal for hitting targets at sea as the shore around finner is normally clear of any boats or ships altogether and they could just put an exclusion zone around it to be sure!was this a rumour as you said?i never heard anything about it!

concerning finner i know it still hosts A111s every now and then and is capable of supporting cessna operations but im wondering have marchettis ever actually landed there?the runway although very short could probably take them!i wonder will it ever be extended to allow PC9s to land there!welll obviously if the idea to use finner as a range was implemented it would!

i thought id start a new thread as it is different from the airbases one!

[Tech Crew]

I don't think Cessnas have landed there for a good while. I know one ran off the runway and into a barbed wire fence back in the ninties. Can't see pc 9 's landing there

[Frank]

Hi Guys,

Finner Air Station no longer exists, yes, the runway and helipad are still there as is the hangar, but the runway has large X's painted along it's length.

The Air Corps had hardly moved out of their building when the Army moved in, I know within a few days of the last Dauphin leaving the Sky dish was relocated!

I don't think you'll ever see fixed wing operations from there again.


Regards,

Frank.

[The Blue Max]

Pilatus, Personnel I would love an upgrade given to Finner Air Station (EIFR) to allow it operate of New/Future Air Corps Aircraft such as Pilatus PC-9M or possible the PC-12M/Cessna Caravan for future target towing operations etc... Im sure that some form of modular Radar/ ATC Control system could be purchased if the Air Corps wanted to it used in Finner as it could be brought up from Dublin when the Air Station come Active dueing certain parts of the summer etc.. Also other Ancilliary Equipment such as Fire Service, Fuel Transport ,Runway Sweepers,Tech Support etc..

Oh and the rumour was mentioned to me in last Three Weeks by people from the Air Defence Regiment that the information they had been told about there future would be. So you heard it hear first!!!

[202]

This possibility was discussed on a previous thread over the summer.  Finner is quite close to Bundoran town and beaches, very busy area in summer, so difficult to know if an intensification of activity would be possible

[Fouga]

Sure Finner would be grand for IAC Ops if we had harriers.....dream on Fouga!

[RMR]

If they were to introduce air to ground firing at finner,what about re-arming,they'd have to fly back to bal or are we talking runway upgrade and re-arming facility....

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi there
RMR, let them fly to Carrickfin and be rearmed there.All they'd need to do would be to build an earth bank(like the butts in the Don) and get a local Army unit to provide security.A round trip to Baldonnel to rearm would be ludicrous.Failing that,sell Finner as a going concern.If there's nothing actually wrong with the runway, it's worth selling off as an airfield.
regards
GttC

[pilatus]

Quote (GoneToTheCanner @ 05 Dec. 2005,23:33)

Hi there RMR, let them fly to Carrickfin and be rearmed there.All they'd need to do would be to build an earth bank(like the butts in the Don) and get a local Army unit to provide security.A round trip to Baldonnel to rearm would be ludicrous.Failing that,sell Finner as a going concern.If there's nothing actually wrong with the runway, it's worth selling off as an airfield. regards GttC

selling off finner!nope not in a million years!it is one of the main army bases in the country and is in such close proximty to the border incase of any future trouble!the runway would have to be brought further away from the public road if it were to be used for allowing planes with live ordanance to land there!do any of you know just how close the runway is to the road!?about 40ft from the side of the road if even that!sure when you drive past it which i do often,you would be able to see if there were any aircraft on the ground as the hangar is that close also!Frank you know what im talking about,you've been there a good few times!for heli ops the place is almost ready for ops!you would just need to extend the hangar to accomadate another heli!finner has always operated without a control tower or any radar so it would be no different now if ops were to resume!

[The Blue Max]

Yea thats about right its about that close to the road, Well with regards to the possible future use of Finner Air Station/Camp  I was told that Air Corp would operate its Target Towing Aircraft from there and so I would presume that the with small extension the runway could be made acceptable for the Pilatus PC-9Ms to operate from for sorties etc... It could be seen as furure investment in the infrastructure in the event that the Trouble ever reared its ugly head again. It would be interesting to see how the Finner would go if it got some re-development work done to it. Personnally I just tink in the event of Finner Air Station being being used during certain periods of the year for training/operations etc.. It would make more sense to use Modular equipment e.g ATC,Technical Support Etc..

[RMR]

I take it the target tows will  just be for summer a-a shoots

[The Blue Max]

Well thats what was mentioned to me the the target towing would be used for Air Defence Batteries to train firing at. it was also said to me that the Air Corps would be delighted to start operation i.e Target Towing etc.. (During Shoots) from Finner I do not no how true that is i would reckon they would be happy to return to the North West Region does antbody ekse ever hear of this too???

[RMR]

Well they always did use them for A-A firing but the finner thing must be just flying up on the day and back home after the days firing..?

[p.diddy.cool]

hello ppl,

If the runway in finner was to be used for fixed wing, you would prob need to extend the runway, it would be a problem because there is a graveyard at the end of it... So i could see problems in that, but i love finner and its a grat station... and yes i would say that u would have to drag the current army pers out kicking and screaming out of the old SAR building.

regards PDC  

[sealion]

Quote (p.diddy.cool @ 10 Dec. 2005,12:14)

hello ppl, If the runway in finner was to be used for fixed wing, you would prob need to extend the runway, it would be a problem because there is a graveyard at the end of it... So i could see problems in that, but i love finner and its a grat station... and yes i would say that u would have to drag the current army pers out kicking and screaming out of the old SAR building. regards PDC

I can see it now. Cessna 172 crashes at the end of finner runway, 4 survivers, and 300 bodies recovered...