Miaaooow pussycats - it takes a while to get back from N Wales to sunny Devon but here goes:
1. I mentioned in my post about perspective and that an R22 in Snowdonia doesn't worry me at all (airmanship and lookout and all that) so all those slagging me off for being too precious can wind their necks in a bit.
2. A TDA is regularly established for an overland SAROP primarily to keep fast jets from flying into helicopters (do the police and Air ambulance not wish they could gain protection from other traffic as well?) ARCC set one up as a matter of routine and not because we asked for it - I made blind calls on 121.5 because the first we knew of the heli activity was when Caenarfon Radio told us of it - he did not know the company frequency and none of the detachment aircraft were on Caernafon at the time. So, in a vague attempt at airmanship to warn them of our impending presence I used an international emergency (and airline chat) frequency.
3. I really didn't know that civvy radios do not have a TR+G facility and find it rather worrying - most sailors with a radio listen out on channel 16 in case of emergency so why don't pilots.
4. Headsethair - the bloke in the hotel (part of the det) was the one who said only one of the instructors would be sharp enough to monitor 121.5, not me. The instructors didn't contact the SAR flight to notify us, they contacted Valley Ops who are not the same thing - if you read my post I said a notam would have been the best option but this wasn't done. I don't have a beef with the detachment at all and I'm glad someone enjoyed seeing us.
5. I am constantly amused that so many operators don't see SAR as operating in the 'real world' just because we are military and not civvy, despite the fact that 95% of our jobs are rescuing civilians from non military situations.
I think everyone should monitor guard - it's there for a good reason and just because it might not be convenient to listen on it doesn't make it right.