Bristows SAR
Lovely wording 'utter rubbish' and 'rumour' tell that to the friend of mine who got sacked over the incident, he could give you a few words about it. The problem is the definitions and the insurance. Bristows and other helo companies require specific (and expensive) insurance for SAR inland, which I know by my own experience is a difficult and ****ty job as well as extra training. Gonna get that 'in-job' with a civvie firm? Doubt it!
The problem is that of costing, also that of the military generally being more prepared to 'have a go' in situations of extreme poor weather. Ask the guys flying the Bristows cabs and you'll find that most of them are ex-military anyway and happy not to tread on the military toes. How many people are we going to keep in the military if all we can offer them are back to back front line tours in some god forsaken banana republic that the USA wants to kick. Don't sell our 'home based' tasking off so quickly, the guys (and girls) doing the job do it extremely well and with the utmost professionalism and here is a thread wanting to sell it all off. Why?