SURVIVAL
A rescue operation from a cave in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare. Rescuers retrieve a body after a tragedy at the Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare.
helicopters around Ireland, I came face the recent RTE television series that when you ace that wave?What is that
to face with pretty much every aspect of dedicated an episode to that incident. feeling when you freefall on a parachute
rescue, every team, every operational Half an hour. A very good programme. jump? It’s a love of life, that’s what it is.
environment.There is nothing quite as But only half an hour.That’s about seven It’s not all physical, it’s deeper than that.
humbling as making an approach to minutes each.They made the ultimate It’s emotional.It can be spiritual.You’re
land in a field at night, in the middle sacrifice;isn’t that what they say? So not laughing at that are you? Because
of the countryside, and to find that That Others May Live;as the Air Corps you have seen the sun set on the west
almost 100 people are waiting for you, motto goes.Duty bound and dedicated. coast of Ireland.And you have seen
so they can help to save a life.There is Those four men were heroes. rainbows below your feet in mountain
nothing that warms your heart as much, Ten years later I still struggle to valleys.You have laughed at sea spray
or makes you feel that you can take on understand it.I look down atTramore washing over you at sea. Enjoy yourself,
anything the Atlantic will throw at you, Beach as I fly high above, on clear days, but as the police sergeant always says
as a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich, on my way east.It’s not quite a prayer, to the NewYork cops after his briefing,
made for you by a lighthouse keeper it’s just thinking of them and those they and before they hit the streets;“Be
at midnight. And there is nothing as left behind.They were good people careful out there.”
dignified or as terrible or as wondrous and they were good Christians.“Treat
as the sight of a teak-tough rescue team others as you would like to be treated,”
member, sniffing back a tear at a funeral “Do unto others as you would have
mass for someone found in a search. them do unto you.” And like the rescue NINE LIVES
Deceased. network that grieved for them then, and
still does today, they are your friends,
‘Nine Lives’ (€16.99), David Courtney’sinvisible but real.A good friend is never“I am older now. I am not
there when you don’t need him. dramatic memoir of life as a helicopter
I am older now. I am not outdoorsoutdoors as often as I would rescue pilot in Ireland, is published by
as often as I would like.My children
Mercier Press and is available to buy onlinewill make up for that I hope. I hope theylike. My children will make up
take risks.Calculated ones.Ones that or at good bookshops nationwide.
make them feel alive.The book I wrote A rescue pilot with some 300 missionsfor that I hope. I hope they take
is not a series of chapters about how to
under his belt, he has seen tragedy anddo a rescue, and it’s not a list of rescues.risks. Calculated ones. Ones
triumph up close and personal. This bookAlthough some notable rescues are
featured.It’s about the emotional side of is an account of becoming a rescue pilot,that make them feel alive.”
rescue. I have found it interesting what from learning to fly, to the thrills and terrors
others have found in the book.That it
of dangerous and complicated nightEleven years ago a rescue diver tells of being afraid and being afraid
died in a cave rescue incident in north to admit it.Loving the outdoors.Loving rescues.
Mayo. Michael Heffernan was his name. life.Loving your parents and your wife As the story unfolds Courtney
Died trying to save life.This year is and your children.About the heroism of
introduces the reader to the many peoplethe 10th anniversary of the rescue Michael Heffernan, the rescue diver, and
helicopter crash inTramore. My friends of that helicopter crew, their dedication who work with rescue crews, and how the
died that night.David.Mick.Paddy. to life, and our living obligation to enjoy entire system works. But more than that,
Niall.You might have heard about it. our lives.Outdoors.It’s about the heady contrasting the dramatic with the mundane,
Searching for a missing boat.A family. exhilaration of saving a life and the
Courtney delves into ordinary day-to-dayWith the RNLI lifeboat, they found them empty hollow feeling of bringing back a
and the family survived.The helicopter body from a search. family life. From the birth of his children
crew did not.They almost got home, but And what has all this got in common to the death of his father, showing how
didn’t make it.They crashed in fog into with the outdoors?What do you
the mundane can empower each of us tosand dunes.So near and yet so far. feel when you get to the top of that
You might have read about it or seen mountain?What is that feeling you have confront the dramatic.
OUTSIDER|June-July|51
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