Air Corps Medivac Exercise

[RMR]

GPS??

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi all
It's a GPS, a Bendix-King, possibly.They used to have a older model linked to a monochrome "Locator", which wasn't up to much but was better than nothing.Failing that, there's nothing like landing and asking if you're still in the South!    '>
regards
GttC

[Frank]

Hi GTTC,

No, I don't follow the pilots home, it was a case of right place, right time!  Unfortunately I had left my camera gear in Galway so I had to arrange to collect my camera in Athlone.  As for what camera gear I use, my camera is a Canon EOS20D, the lens I took the pics in the Curragh with was a Canon 28-135mm IS lens using a very low shutter speed to blur the rotors.  My main lens for air shows is the Sigma 50-500mm, known in the air show circuit as the "Bigma".

The visibility wasn't as bad as you think, you have to remember as well that the the guys on the ground were using smoke as a position locator and that is in the background of some of the shots.

---------------------------

John K,

Quote

Oh and don't forget, "If it ain't rainin' it ain't trainin'!"

Never a truer word said, it started raining as the exercise began and stopped as soon as the last casualty was taken away!


Regards,

Frank.

[John K]

Thanks GTTC, does it talk in a womans voice? I remember we trialled a moving map display in an Alouette years ago (211?) An OS map on your lap was better!
The red, white and blue kerbstones were a dead giveaway as to your whereabouts if you got lost in Monaghan! But if you thought you were over Armagh and turned left hoping to find Monaghan but in reality you were over Fermanagh! That's lost! Get the pilot out of the 5h1t and hang out of the door in the rain trying to read a road sign!
I can sympathyse with you frank!

[202]

Stunning photos ... best I have seen on this site ... talking about training was there some mention of some of the AIII guys having been in Austria over the summer for high altitude training?

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi there
John K, there's only two kinds of Alouette "Border" pilots....those who crossed the Border and those who were prepared to admit it!
regards
GttC

[John K]

'Damien' didn't want to admit our first foray as we had a VIP in the back, but eventually even he had to admit defeat when I hung out the door and told him we were on the way to NewtownButler!
That week I think I spent more time over the North than I did over the south! His navigation was terrible, but he wouldn't admit it and let me read the map!
I often wondered if the people in the North looked on it as an invasion as did the people in the South if the RAF Wessex got lost!

[GoneToTheCanner]

He,He!
I'll bet "Damien" felt real bright that day. Still, he wasn't the first....I saw a British Gazelle, whilst standing in my mother-in-law's garden,in Monaghan,last August.Given that her garden is seven miles from the Border, the pilot was clearly taking the pi55!
regards
GttC

[John K]

GTTC, you're not from anywhere near 'Blayney are you? One of my crowd was from there and I used to go up and spend weekends with him and his family sometimes. Also Maddy Pyles? I lived with him in Lucan, he had a lovely sister!

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi John K
My other half is from near Ballinode, just a few miles North of Monaghan Town. One can see and hear helicopters,from both sides, all the time.
regards
GttC

[Flyboy]

Going back to the main thread ....... I find it hard to accept that the so called Celtic Tiger will have an Air Corps containing SIX helicopters once this major re-equipment program is complete. Ireland needs to come clean with it's Euro partners and admit it is so poor it cannot support an Air Arm or Navy worth talking about.