When you headline the fact that "the Coastguard helicopters will be taken over and civilianised" it makes you wonder about how much homework they have done given that they are already civilianised. Not only that but the two contenders from overseas are hardly newcomers to the SAR world in the British Isles!
Another misinformed briefing from the MoD duffers who see their
PR baby sailing over the horizon.
As a taxpayer I am more than happy that we will not have to pay for a nuclear bomb-proof Sea King with a fraction of the serviceability to go plodding round our coastline at 110 kts...... and because I've been there I know that the comments made about young military pilots are absolutely right. Everybody has to do their first SAR tour and in the old days you didn't have a co-pilots position to go makey-learning in. The Wessex SAR boys did it cold-turkey - well almost. But they were well trained and good enough to do the job. It can often be forgotten that the crutch a new SAR pilot needs most is a good crewie. Now, where are they coming from??
G
