Crab said
If there is one area that could be transferred from SAR to AA, it is medevacs - these are time consuming and often tedious patient transfers that do not need a military aircraft and crew with a winch to complete. Get AA 24/7 operationally and give them all the medevacs and your precious SAR asset will be far more available for the job it is designed for.
(What picking up fast jet ejectees
)
Sorry mate, north of the border (where AA is 24/7 and Gov funded) they have to operate under public transport rules when doing patient tansfers. Therefore, not uncommon for MOD ac to be called to carry out the job at night because wx below limits for public transport. 1500ft cloudbase.
Winching is hovering. Really not that hard, stop making such a big deal out of it.