SARH to go

[Tallsar]

Why Mil SAR? & double hoist heritage.

Hi Guys

There are 2 issues I'd like to comment on - hope they are helpful.

The double hoist originated (as a modification proposal) in the early 1980s after MALM Dave Bullock died trying to rescue an F16 pilot from an RAF SK3 from Coltishall (AH Coltishall!!). The winch cable had to be cut as Dave was unable to detach himself from the F16 pilot who was being blown at considerable speed by his inflated parachute across the North sea. Dave made a valiant attempt to cut himself free but was drowned in the whole sad affair once connection to the aircraft was lost. Many other valuable lessons were learned from this tragic accident. Simultaneously the recent intro of the long range SK3 to the RAF SAR force had made people realise that long range missons were also prejudiced by not having a second (back-up) winch after flogging all the way out to a rescue point over 200 miles away at circa 100 kts only to find the primary winch failed on you. Thus was borne an MoD requirement for a second winch for SAR SKs. Unfortunately (as was often the case in those days - and now!!) money was tight and the no sexy duplex winch was either available or affordable at the time - and certainly not the modification funds to install a second similar winch on the side of the ac - although atrial modifciation fit was designed at some expense. Several of us tried hard over the years to sort this but failed. The saga of the waterproof winchman's radio (now resolved after nearly 20 years effort!!) was also bound up with this accident. In the end the RAF had to compromise and fitted a manually operated secondary winch stowed in the cabin and only to be used for emergency recovery of the winchman (if at all possible). Britsh Airways and early Bristows S61s were fitted with a much less capable electric air hoist and it wasn't long before they rightly upgraded to a simialr hoist that the RAF/RN Sks had demonstarted were essential for modern long range and more capable SAR helos. It is also true to say that Bristows in the late 1980s had become a very dynamic and progressive SAR organisation incorporating lots of good ideas in their SAR platforms that were either previously demonstrated by the mil, or were never fitted by the RAF due to lack of funds. A main motivation (understandably for Bristows) was their aim to take over mil sar across the country when the time was right for such a bid! Thus is the inhernet difference between a government funded and run SAR system and one which is commercially run and sponsored and that can at least be agile and flexible depending on which new demanding customer is paying the bill. Understandably the inquiry after Bill Deacon's death found out about the above, and quite understandably recommended what they did - and fortunately good old Bristows did the right thing and moved forward to a positon that the RAF & RN should have adopted some 10 years earlier. While both mil and civ SAR cabs have both had other rminor improvements - the new Interim CHC birds have now set the standards that SAR-H must equal or better (certainly as far as range is concerned!!)

As for why mil sar - I reiterate a post I made on another thread some time ago. SAR in the UK Search and Rescue Region (UK SRR) is a government responsibility under international conventions and agreements. Specifically the Chicago convention of 1948 calls for aviation SAR to be provided free of charge to any ac passing through national airspace - hence the UK SRR is directly aligned with the UK FIR/ airpsace.
In 1948 of course, there was no government deprtment other than those related to Defence that could provide airborne (or even long range seaborne) rescue facilities, and given the RAF (& RN) capability established in 1941, it was approiate that the RAF was allocated formal respnsibility by the government for the provison of an organisation and assets to deliver this capability on behalf of the nation and the Transport Department who were lead ministry (and still are). Simultaneosuly of course, the experiences of the ASR service in WW2 ensured that the RAF saw this as a responsibility for the rescue of downed aircrew (whether shot down or from accident) - and this was replicated across the Empire and wherever main UK mil air bases existed - Oh for the days of HK, Singapore, Aden, Salalah, El Adem (Oh and the Falklands too of course!!). Incidentally, it is a poorly known fact that an RAF SAR sqn (22) was the first RAF helo sqn to deploy across the world in the late 1950s to the Bikini Atol for the UK's nuclear trials programme - the first example of deployable milsar?!! Overland rescue has always been a major feature in the UK too probably starting with the major floods of 1952/3 - again nothing new!! - and as many air related accidents occured there. As ejection seats developed but the accident rate remained high - it is easy to see why this requirement remained uppermost in Mil aviators & UK Mod's minds for many years to come well into the 1980s. Despite the marked reduction (for a variety of reasons) of mil aicraft accidents over the UK SRR in recent years, it remains a formal RAF responsibility on behalf of the DfT to deliver long range SAR (Nimrod) and short range air rescue (helo) capability on behalf of the nation. In the interim of course, both the RAF and RN have signifcantly reduced in size and no longer occupy a spread of airbases across the UK. This meant that from the 1970s and subsequently, a compromise has been reached with the DfT (who also "own" the MCA/HMCG), for gaps to be filled with civ funded SAR Flts - the first having been Manston in 1972 (only for 3 years before the RAF returned - but civ sar flights take up an inordinate proprtion of the DfT MCA budget - even the well priced Interim CHC contract (which incidentally is not a small version of SAR-H - the latter has some much more comprehensive and demanding requirments). The major spur for civowned sar in this country was of course the 1970s oil exploration in the Noth Sea - and hence Sumburgh and Aberdeen based SAR flts were born (and now Jigsaw) until te MoD finally funded some SKs in the late 70's which was part funded by the DfT. Stornoway came later as the regular RAF SK detachments were withdrawn post Cold War, those RAF SKs having shown what capability could be delivered and was needed on that part of the Scottish west coast. Lee and Portland fell in naturally once the RN departed in the 90s from a very busy part of the civ SAR turf. (RIP Leuchars, Manston, Warton, Brawdy, Thorney island, Linton, Felixstowe, Aldegrove, St Mawgan, Coltishall. A... ton (you know - that place near Newcastle!), even Finningley - all of whose demise show that a more modern and capable SAR servcie doesn't always need loads of bases!). Many people do not know that the RN Culdrose SAR flt (and others) was for many years funded by the DfT and not the RN, as the RN viewed its SAR role as shipborne not part of the UK National provision - not so now I hasten to add. It remains true that the MoD has a Duty of Care to its people, not just aircrew, and adequate airborne SAR is part of that duty. The fact we are (like it or not) now moving to a joint provison under a civilan cointractor (SAR-H) is the Uk Giverments decison on how to meet both their international and national SAR obligations as well as MoD ensuring it continues to provde for its people too. Its one of the reasons (in addition to allowing for deployable SAR training and good mil exposure to the UK public) that the MoD is investing in SAR-H and not handing it over in toto to the DfT & MCA. 65% of missons today in the UK are overland (including cliff rescues) anyway, and Crab is right to state that only the MoD SAR service has yet developed a comprehensive day/night bad weather capability in this domain. SAR-H will be contracted to deliver it from every base it operates form whether flown by mil or civ aircrew. The intention is to remove the inadvertant "post code lottery" that has developed (by accident) over the last 20 years as a result of having 3 different providers of SAR helos in the UK.
Time will tell ( whether the SAR-H contract meets this exacting requirement) but I know an awful lot of people from all 3 bidders who are working very hard to potentially deliver such a service (and yes at a profit!).

Cheers