is the as 350 b2 suitable for sar in the cape?
In my opinion you'd be hard pushed to find a better single engine helicopter for what you describe. Purchase cost is one of the few things against you. You'll be in a relatively simple machine, easy to maintain, simple to fly, certainly reliable (especially if flown most days), stable platform, relatively robust, it is unlikely to be the cause of your crash however if you do you're in one of the worst seats/harnesses so see if you can get the as350b3 seats but they are expensive and are also not perfect (but then what is). Lack of tail rotor authority can be a problem but good pilot techniques will help, you'll struggle to get into vortex ring unlike two bladded bells (but poor piloting will help if you insist), the standard landing lights are not that good. The main rotor blades are "on condition" but you're unlikely to get more than 4000 hours out of a set, if you purchase a b2 a new or newish set of main rotor & tail rotor blades would be high on my list, you must have high skids. I could go on. If this is of any help give me a phone number to ring and I'll give it some real thought. Good luck!