I must alert my local constabulary; I believe that they require 1500 hours P1 and provide two trained observers. This is clearly a waste of tax payers money and any PPL could carry out a search in both an effective and safe manner without all of that other nonsense.
Sorry, I just don't quite get it. If you're out and about and spot something (and I mean something worthwhile, not a bonfire) then you let someone know. If a dedicated search is required then that's a job for someone who has been trained to do it. Or am I missing something?
Cor Blimey! Get off your Hobby Horse J.A.F.O
Yes you are missing something. There comes a point when an official search is called off due to financial or operational reasons. The person (or whatever) may still be missing and may still have an outside chance of survival. The authorities don't always wish to make it known to everybody that there "might" be a life out there to save for fear of endangering too many "do gooders" However, a "known" amatuer group with well advised (and often trained) pilots to step in if they can to carry on the search for a while can't be a bad thing? There are also things that you wouldn't dream of calling out the authorities to find, such as missing livestock, pets or stolen trucks ect. Nobody is asked to fly beyond their capabilities and are in fact discouraged from flying too low or placing themselves in danger. If you have a PPL you should be capable of restraint and be responsible for your own safety. I'm not aware of any Skywatch pilot having crashed or causing a nuisance during official searches or whatever. Yes we would all report something obvious if we saw it ... but we're unlikely to be looking out for anything in particular THAT IS THE POINT! I've been flying for 20 years and apart from a caravan on fire, have never seen anything remotely worth reporting. However, I've seen the occasional thing that has made me wonder (and I don't mean criminal or vandal) but not reported as they were probably nothing ..... but what if I'd known different because I'd been asked to look? I'm no snitch, and as far as looking for criminal activity? well that leaves me cold. But if I were asked to look out for kids that have been known to break onto a certain bit of railway track or something then I'm more than willing to help.
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