I have been watching the local bbc station here in the south west and a programme was aired last nite about the south west Coast Guard`s work during last summer. Of interest to me was the Search and Rescue team flying the S61 based at Portland which I have had the pleasure of being airbourne with a couple of times for excercises.
This particular episode dealt with a child being swept out off shore ( Chesil Beach ) and the desperate attempts of two adults who also got into difficulties to save the young lad.
The episode showed how the aircrew dealt with this situation from the scramble to the winching where the combined weight of the aircrew and film crew, no wind and air temperature meant that whilst winching in the first 2 casualties, if the aicraft suffered an engine failure then they were all going to get wet.
The winchman brought aboard the young lad first, and it clear that he was in dire straights, the film crew actually toke over CPR whilst the second casualty was winched aboard, he too was critical. The aircraft made the short transit to the A & E landing pad which is in the middle of a town and was designed for the Navy mk 4 Sea King, so with no room to spare the medical staff took off the two casualties. Then it was back to the sea to winch aboard a third adult from the inshore inflatable who required urgent attention. Again it was back to the tight squeeze of the A & E.
Apart from the horror/saddness of watching a young lad in the back of the cab being given CPR and knowing that every one is trying to save his life, the programme showed how the news of the lads death and that of one of his recuers affected the aircrew.
Tip my hat to you guys every time you fly over the area, to those who remember, it was`nt that long ago Portland lost an aircraft to an in flight engine fire and ONLY just got the aircraft down!
Fine bunch of blokes. I will be watching next week.
