I've found the cure for insomnia!!!
Interesting that the Mil keep harping on about overland SAR & the apparent shortfall in Civvy overland SAR!
Firstly.....grubbing through terra ferma at night, in foul weather etc etc looking for anyone who isn't actually 'Life At Risk' is nothing short of irresponsible IMHO. Aircraft Captains are first & foremost responsible for their crew! Every flight should be 'risk assessed' regardless of the aircraft's performance! To say otherwise is, again, irresponsible!!
The civvies do overland SAR! & I would suggest that the occasions that they turned back & the casualty lost their life are incredibly few & far between!
Yep....we don't have NVG....yep we are more prone to risk assess & say no! & yep.....we aren't prone to the same level of pushonitis!! Is that bad thing?? Nope! I like life & I like returning safely with the crew!
As for not using other assets, not landing on & waiting for....say an MRT....to bring the casualty safely to you.....is mad! Surely the safest possible course of action, is the only course of action?
Why don't we have NVG?? Why? Because the Coastguard's don't want it!! Overland SAR is secondary! So why blame us?? The Civvy companies would happilly provide NVGs etc etc if the 'Customer' specified it! (& if the Authorities allowed it!
)
But guess what.....they don't!! Strange that considering the RAF claim to have had such a huge influence on the new round of contracts!??
Quite frankly......the world revolves around cash! The military is no different, having been strangled by governments repeatedly! Lets face it....the Civvies do it cheaper! & in 99.9% of cases they do it just aswell, with better serviceability & less fuss!
I will admit that there is a couple of things the RAF do better than anyone else!........Blow their own trumpet &
PR immediately spring to mind!!!
RAF, Navy or Civvy I don't care! I have the utmost respect for all the SAR crews! I lose a little of that respect reading through constant bleating & we're better than you!
Right....off back to sleep!
