Russell - I have not turned this into a pissing contest - others jump to the conclusion that I am saying only SAR can winch which is not true at all.
If you read what I have said, the pilot skills are almost irrelevant in this situation - if you can't hover then get out of the cockpit - it is the winch op training that will be vital. Unlike us drivers, there are not hordes of experienced winch ops who are qualified paramedics and willing to operate in an air ambulance - that means training them from scratch. This will take time and money and may produce good operators in time. BUT just consider what it is like with a brand new winch op, straight off the course, how many mistakes will they make and how many can you afford for them to make? It is a big training burden any anyone who thinks differently is deluding themselves.
Thud - it takes a reasoned argument with some proper evidence to convince me - not just an attitude of 'we want to do it and we can so there'. In this case particularly the risk assessment seems flawed.