Speaking as someone who's a Trustee of a UK AA charity, I remain to be convinced that fitting a winch to one or all of our aircraft is something we should consider. Some of our paramedics asked about it a few years ago, but when I pointed out the not insignificant number of hours that would need to be spent in achieving and then maintaining currency, the subject was dropped. Speaking personally, I can't see the financial costs being outweighed by the occasional benefits of having a winch-equipped aircraft and I'll say as much if ever the Trustees are asked to consider funding for such a project.
That's not to say that other charities shouldn't go down that route - I just know where our current financial priorities lie and equipping our a/c with winches isn't on the list. I suspect the AA community will be watching any developments in Yorkshire/anywhere else with great interest.
On a related matter, I remember being told by a SAR flight pilot that there was no way they could support a fundraising "heli-day" in the very early days of the charity, since "you'll soon be taking most of our jobs". Nothing could be further from the truth, as it happens, as our paramedics know full well that an early call for a SAR cab is almost always beneficial for the patient. There are certain regular incident locations (a popular set of waterfalls, for example) where experience has shown that the patient is usually accessible to the paramedics after a short-ish walk in, but that the best way of removing said patient is usually via winch.
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