Air Corps crash kills 2; ACCIDENT.

Byline: JOHN FALLON

A FLIGHT instructor and a cadet were killed last night when their Air Corps aircraft crashed.

The two-seater Pilatus PC-9 was one of three military planes on a training exercise in the Cornamona area of north Co Galway.

Locals noticed the aircraft yesterday on manoeuvres on the Galway-Mayo border before a woman reported "a loud bang" to the authorities.

Resident Noel Mannion said: "The spot where the plane has come down is a glacier valley. It is uninhabited and only used by sheep for grazing.

"Everybody in the area just went straight into rescue mode and people first of all identified the exact location for the emergency services and gave whatever help they could.

"Emergency arc lighting was erected as it was very dark. It is a terrible tragedy for those involved. Our thoughts are with their families."

Defence Forces spokesman Commandant Gavin Young said accessibility and visibility in the crash area - in the townland of Crimlin East - was difficult and that a full examination would be carried out at first light this morning.

He added: "It will take time to piece this together."

A spokeswoman from the Irish Aviation Authority said: "At around 6pm a woman rang the air traffic control in Shannon to report a plane had gone low overhead and she heard a loud bang immediately after."

The three aircraft had departed from Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel in Co Dublin at 5.45pm.

The two Air Corps members, whose names have not been released, were on board the popular Pilatus PC-9. The aircraft is a singleengine, two-seat turboprop training model manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland.

More than 250 of them have been manufactured and aside from the Irish Air Corps they are used by the Swiss Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Saudi Air Force and Royal Thai Air Force for training crewmen.

CAPTION(S):

MANOEUVRES One of three Pilatus PC-9s from the Irish Air Corps went down in Galway yesterday ALERT Emergency teams at the site in Cornamona