I know a lot of the units around the UK have a backup aircraft.
There are no backup aircraft these days, since units moved away from the Squirrels to the 902 and EC 135. Who is going to go to the expense of buying and equipping one(or half a dozen in the case of 902s,
) of these aircraft to use as a spare? Plus who pays for the maintenace and spares?
Some units used to continue to use a Squirrel as backup, but the availability of an aircraft was decreasing, plus the cost of keeping pilots current on both types was becoming a factor, and I think that we at Merseyside were the last to give it up last year.
Also, the programme's a repeat from 2006.