I was under the impression that the seconds crew were for the chop in this new arrangement?
No - current commitments are to be maintained (ie 1st and 2nd standby). Given that the SAR flts were topped up from 4 to 5 crews in '82 to provide enough manpower for the Falklands commitment, it will be interesting to see how trimming flts back to 4 will leave enough people to cover UK and Falklands and the other, newer, operational commitments as well.