Of course the government will go for only one SAR cab on standby at each location - it is cheaper and allows money to be spent on more PC projects
Max - SAR must have changed since my time (left in 1990) but it was a regular occurrence to be called in for a "seconds" job especially in the summer.
On one occasion at Brawdy, for the Air India 747 off Cork, we generated 3 cabs and crews (we had the OCU a/c in the hangar as they were on summer break at Culdrose). The 3rd crew had a pilot as winchman as he had been a crewman in a previous life. (hi TG).
For the Piper Alpha disaster I was generated from home at 2230 and was airborne within 30mins. The Piper disaster was a classic example of how different assets should be used. Winch equipped a/c searched for and recovered survivors to the Tharos flotel while non-winch equipped a/c took them onward to Aberdeen. A Nimrod ran the show from Flt Level very high.
A Crab says the military have a surge capability, which is very useful in a disaster, and it will be a shame to loose that.
HF