Operational readiness is not something achieved once. It is maintained through recurrent training, experience and continuous learning.
From 3–6 November 2026, ASG returned to Galway to deliver another specialist Search & Rescue aviation refresher training programme for Irish Coast Guard personnel, continuing our long-standing programme of recurrent training designed to support the people responsible for coordinating some of Ireland’s most demanding and time-critical rescue missions.
The latest programme builds on previous Irish Coast Guard refresher courses delivered by ASG in Galway and forms part of an ongoing training relationship through which hundreds of Coast Guard personnel have completed initial and recurrent aviation training with our team.
Keeping knowledge current when it matters most
Search & Rescue coordination is an environment in which decisions often need to be made quickly, with incomplete information and potentially significant consequences.
For personnel involved in aviation tasking and coordination, technical knowledge therefore cannot simply be learned once and assumed to remain current.
Recurrent training provides an opportunity to revisit the knowledge, procedures and human-performance principles that underpin effective SAR coordination while also drawing on operational experience accumulated since previous training.
The Galway programme revisited key areas including:
- Operational Risk Management
- Emergency Response Planning
- Meteorology and weather decision-making
- Navigation and flight planning
- Air Law and communications
- SAR operating procedures
- Human Factors and Crew Resource Management
- Fatigue Risk Management and Flight Time Limitations
The emphasis throughout was not simply on recalling information, but on applying it effectively in an operational environment.
Training built around real operational responsibility
The people attending these programmes work within an organisation that sits at the centre of Ireland’s maritime emergency response network.
Irish Coast Guard personnel may be required to coordinate aviation and other rescue resources during complex, rapidly developing incidents around Ireland’s coastline and maritime Search & Rescue region.
ASG’s recurrent programme is therefore structured around maintaining the judgement, situational awareness and coordination skills required for those responsibilities.
That operational context is central to the way ASG approaches the training.
Rather than treating refresher training as a repetition of an initial course, each recurrent programme provides an opportunity to revisit established principles through the perspective of further operational experience.
Returning to Galway
Delivering the programme in Galway also reflects ASG’s flexible approach to specialist aviation training.
Bringing training directly to operational personnel allows the programme to be delivered closer to the environment in which participants work while helping to minimise disruption to operational commitments.
ASG has increasingly developed this capability across its government, emergency-service and operational aviation training activities, providing bespoke programmes both at our own facilities and at customer locations.
“Readiness has to be continually reinforced”
ASG Founder Diarmuid O’Riordan said:
“One of the most important principles in recurrent training is that operational readiness cannot simply be assumed because somebody completed an initial course. Knowledge has to be revisited, experience has to be discussed and good decision-making has to be continually reinforced.”
He continued:
“That is particularly important in Search & Rescue, where the people undertaking this training may later be making decisions during a very real emergency. That gives every refresher programme a significance that goes well beyond simply completing an annual training requirement.”
A partnership built around continuous improvement
ASG has worked extensively with the Irish Coast Guard across both initial SAR Aviation Tasking and Co-ordination training and recurrent refresher programmes, training and refreshing hundreds of personnel over the course of the relationship.
Each programme provides another opportunity for instructors and participants to exchange experience, discuss evolving operational challenges and reinforce the common principles that support safe and effective Search & Rescue activity.
For ASG, that continuing relationship is something of which we remain particularly proud.
O’Riordan added:
“There is a genuine sense of purpose attached to this work. We are extremely proud to continue supporting the Irish Coast Guard and the people whose decisions, professionalism and coordination contribute directly to saving lives.”
ASG would like to thank all participants for their professionalism and engagement throughout the latest Galway programme.
We are proud to continue supporting the Irish Coast Guard and one of Ireland’s most important life-saving public services.
ASG is an EASA Approved Training Organisation providing aviation training and consultancy services to government organisations, airlines, aviation professionals and student pilots.
