No I haven't been called to assist ... and be honest I'm beginning to doubt that I will? Ho hum
I do not believe that a search would be called off while they
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may still have an outside chance of survival
Well they do! As an example (not in the UK I grant you) what about Steve Fossett? They called off the official search but stated that he could still be alive. It's the same here, the public purse will only pay for a finite amount of money to search. After a "sensible" period the search will be downgraded. This is often before "all hope" is lost, but after "all probabability" is reached.
The base level for Skywatch pilots is basically just a PPL, but 250 hours is called for before you "might" be called upon to help. Before that, you can just observe and report. They have a pretty good guide to SAR techniques and do hold excercises to test your skills (or not). Not great training I'll admit, but like I said, as a PPL, you "should" be able to self regulate.
As far as the original post goes ... It's funny how we are happy to accuse the press of poor reporting when it comes to aviation accidents ect, but are happy to go along with them when they suggest pilot ineptitude, big brotherism or whatever backs up our own beliefs. Do you really think that Skywatch and the police would advocate microlight pilots breaching the ANO by flying low level over housing estates to pick up on the odd petty criminal? C'mon, get real!
SS