It happens, this pressure to go. A few years ago I flew a police aircraft, which was a "floppy stick" unstabilised twin. I didn't have a UK IR, most of us didn't, although I had quite a lot of military instrument flying experience.
One night, we had just returned from one local job, scrubbed due to the weather deteriorating due to low cloud and rain turning into snow.
A short time later, a call came to search for a man and his son, not returned from a day in the hills. They were known to be experienced walkers and well equipped for the terrain and weather. There was no known start point so they wanted us to search a huge area in bad weather. I declined, explaining that the weather was too bad even for a local job; this one was further away in hills 2000 feet high. The Chief Inspector rang back - he wanted to speak to me on the phone. He tried to tell me how to do my job and how he knew the capabilities of the aircraft (yes, he was convinced that we had radar, that well known supposed answer to a pilot's prayers - we didn't), which irritated me just a little. I still declined to go and asked him if he had a weather report for the search area. He said that a traffic car had reported heavy snow and fog. I asked how he thought we were going to search in that weather. He "advised" me that I should launch, fly around the back of the hills and try to gain access to the area from the other side, using radar.
I told him that he was trying to press me into risking the aircraft and three lives to save two lives that may or may not need saving. He didn't like that and told me he would be making an adverse report about me. He said he was going to call out the neighbouring police unit's aircraft instead ,who were actually closer to the job than we were. I said go ahead, we're not launching. He did, they also refused to launch.
The weather eventually cleared at base and we were informed that the men's car had been found in a lay-by so they now had a start point. I agreed to go for a look see and we launched, some time after midnight. We didn't get far because the area in question still had total blizzard conditions so we turned back. We advised the control room that the only real option was to go back at first light if the weather was suitable.
The Chief Inspector then rang the RAF SAR boys. They declined the job too, saying that they couldn't fly in that weather either. By this time he was almost incandescent but at least the pressure was off me as an individual...
The following morning, the two men, having safely camped out overnight in their tent walked back to their car and drove home. They rang the police when the lady of the household told them about the search...
RISK ASSESSMENT
