Its not the coastal SAR that any prospective Police/AA unit would want to dabble in, its more of the stranded climber on a steep sided hill or maybe a injured walker in a clearing in a wood, all well in land, critically more minutes away from a coastal SAR unit. The RAF and civil SAR operators are far too proficient in all that stuff offshore
I think the regulations governing winch training could be rewritten if a strong enough proposal was put forward. Who would of thought years ago that RAF SAR would be greatly reduced and civilianised. Regulations change all the time so lets watch this space.
IMHO its about getting the best asset to the patient within the best response time with the best capability and if this is a winch equiped police/AA aircraft with a suitably trained crew then its a good thing, adding to existing assets not trying to replace them.
