Just to put the record straight, the Stornoway S92 did land at Glasgow airport following a fire alarm activation on one of the engines, however, it did not land until it had completed its task on ONE ENGINE, this task being out of area once again covering for the lack of MOD SAR Helicopter coverage, they all break down folks
On the training side, I have heard that those colleagues at Valley have fallen behind drastically with their ongoing training due to the lack of available aircraft,surely this cannot be good for either UKSAR or indeed the individuals concerned.
To put those people in the know (in this case not in the know) it was not just a lowly Sqn Ldr who provided expert advice and guidance from the MOD to the MCA for the interim contract, there were four "experts" from the RAF, from differing disciplines giving advice.
The 66 military that will be left in SAR-H post 2012 was predicated by senior RAF/RN personnel, your own kind have sold you out, not faceless civil servants or those employed in Civ SAR. Why were you sold down the river, not because of your skills/work ethics or personal hygiene, purely and simply because the majority of your workload is assisting civilians and the fact that your skills are needed on the front line.
Can I also just point out that the majority of the moaning from the military side comes from the RAF, the RN are obviously quite content in the main with the way things are progressing. I would suggest that the RN probably has more to moan about as those in SAR-H will now have to have detachments away in the FI where they did not before.
The last I heard, it costs between 250 and 300 million a year for the MOD to provide the service they currently provide, multiply by 25 or 30 and strangely enough the cost is smack bang in the middle of the projected cost (as stated in the OJEU) for SAR-H, funny thing that
so I'm thinking no change for the taxpayer then, same or better service (time will tell) for no extra cost, bargain!!!!!
Look forward to meeting you Crab when you come begging for work post 2012, unless of course you enjoy the weather too much in the sunnier places of the world you are likely to visit as a front liner.
I see the main reason for all the bitching is because some (not all) who have done 6 or 7 tours in SAR concurrently with the SARF will now have to actually do what they are paid to do, as I did, and have to fight for queen and country.......