Originally Posted by
ChristopherRobin
The Irish requirement is very broad and includes both 15 survivors, and a MIRG type deployment with the Irish maritime medical and fire teams but not at the same time obvs.
given the size of the Irish AO and the stringency of the regulations compared to UK, it’s madness selecting an AW189 solution IMO. It just can’t cut it
Can you squeeze 15 survivor and 2 Technical Crew Members into the back of an AW189-SAR?
Yes, but you probably have to land on a deck to get them in safely.
What does 15 survivors look like in the grand scheme of things?
It covers the crew size of the majority of fishing vessels and coastal cargo vessels.
The NAWSARH requirement was 25 but experienced aircrew have questioned that number.
The UKSAR2G, having re-evaluated their requirement based on 4 years of data REDUCED their threshold requirement for larger aircraft from 8 (inc. 2 stretchered) down to 6 (inc. 2 stretchered). They did however express an ambition for 10. The smaller aircraft requirement, remains at 4.
A big winch evacuation would probably be 8 or more but most are 3 or less.
Aircrew exhaustion or fuel remaining may limit winch evacuation before accommodation.