The end of the Yellow and
Red and Gray Halos, as Air Sea Search and Rescue becomes a civilian operation
Photographs by Patrick
Trollope.
DESPITE powerful objection from high profile people to the privatisation, on 1 April 2015,of the UK's Air Sea Search and Rescue helicopter service, which has been run by the Royal Air Force since it was founded in 1941. The service was originally instigated to recover ditched military air crews (still its primary purpose) and is known internationally for its RAF Sea Kings that we all have seen numerous times on videos and photographs over the years.
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The service has now been fully privatised and handed over to a US company Bristow Group. The 10 year UK SAR contract was awarded by the Department for Transport in March 2013 and will see the new Bristow crews deliver the UK SAR helicopter service on behalf of HM Coastguard, with state of the art helicopters, equipped with the latest search and rescue technology including night vision, mission management and increased onboard medical capabilities. For the North West this has resulted in the loss of service provided by No. 22 Squadron, also known as Flight 22, which had His Royal Highness Prince William, Duke of Cambridge served in from 2010 to 2013. The service will now be delivered on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) from 10 bases strategically located close to areas of high SAR incident rates. The launch of the civilian UK search and rescue (SAR) helicopter service, run by Bristow Helicopters Ltd, a UK limited company will now see them introducing the service in what they say will be a "phased approach" with the 1st bases at Inverness and Humberside, now receiving tasking from the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) as of the 1 April 2015. The idea is that the new service can manage with fewer bases thanks to the higher speed of new helicopters that Bristow will supply, 10 Sikorsky S-92s and 10 Agusta Westland AW189s, that replace the Air Force and Royal Navy Sea King helicopters from 17 coastal stations around the country So by the summer of 2017, Bristow will operate from 10 coastguard helicopter bases around the UK, on behalf of Her Majesty's Coastguard. Bristow have told us that:- "We are putting our bases close to the SAR hotspots so that our resources can be brought to bear as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our bases have also been selected to reduce transit time, fuel requirements and disturbance, helping us to exceed environmental requirements. We are having new state of the art SAR bases built at:- Inverness; Manston; Prestwick; Caernarfon; Humberside; Newquay and St Athan. We will also be operating out of existing, purpose built MCA facilities at:- Lee-on-Solent; Sumburgh and we have refurbished Stornoway. As we say on the website, we have marked and are making significant pre-operational and operational investments; in the region of £7 million per base. Our infrastructure, ongoing maintenance and supplies will be sourced locally, providing additional opportunities for local businesses and SME's. In addition, all of our infrastructure developments for the UK SAR contract will be fully compliant with strict environmental criteria." So what are your views on this? As history closes on a major chapter of aviation history in the UK, will safety be improved or compromised, only time will tell. Please send us your feeling and also any memories you might have of our RAF and Navy Services over the years.
