....cheaper but far less capable PFI.
Brave claim, Crab. This dick swinging contest has already been done on pprune and showed how badly informed the military are when it comes to the cabability of their HMCG cousins.
But that is beside the point. The country is littered with emergency air assets, with little coordination between them. At the end of the day it is vitally important that the casualty gets assistance as quickly as possible, ie from the closest asset that is likely to be able to assist. If a man calls 999 to say he crashed his helicopter when landing at his house, it is reasonable to assume that an air ambulance 10mins away is the best asset, together with the local fire brigade. The casualty has to come first and if that means that the protocol that requires ARCCK to coordinate all aircraft crashes is overlooked then so be it.
Moreover, how would a family feel if their son had drowned on the N Devon coast because the Chivenor cab was away up country responding to a job it is not required for? Assigning assets is not just about capability, it is also about retaining cover for other incidents.
I agree Crab, there needs to be better coordination between all emergency services' airbourne assets. Maybe this should be part of the harmonisation of SAR assets in 2012.