G-OENC was the last of the standard crew change AW189 in Bristow's UK fleet and was converted to SAR variant for the Kustwacht-NL contract at Den Helder & Midden Zeeland. As notified nearby by another ppruner, that conversion was disabled by the lack of timely paperwork from Leonardo so another SAR variant was borrowed from the UK SAR fleet at the last minute for the Dutch. G-OENC was then transferred to the Irish register in November as EI-HKT. It is believed to be the only AW189 available for training and preparation for the Irish contract at this time. Although not yet a full SAR fit, it is believed it can fulfil all the technical requirements for the Irish contract except the deicing specification which on EI-HKT is only Limited Icing Protection System (LIPS) while it is believed that FIPS (Full) is required. The matter of deicing spec might lead one to expect a swap with one of the Dutch fleet at some future stage.
Jim,
Thanks for the information!