267.4fwd - oh yes, your generous offer, which was never made in writing, email or by phone was essentially that I travel at my own expense and in my own time from one end of the country to another just to see your shiny new toy.
I know it has all the bells and whistles and is a capable SAR machine, whether or not it is the best SAR machine will possibly be decided by the winning SARH bidder - it certainly looks like the 139 will be passed over come 2012.
I am not denigrating my civvy SAR pals by defending our present military capability but what you do now is not what you will have to do after 2012.
Lost - I am sure having the EGPWS alerting for terrain, obstacles, bank angle and all the other stuff it can do is wonderful but frankly I suspect at low level you would have to keep muting it or turning it off which rather defeats the object. The good old rad alt has served us very well, we seem to have managed not to crash into things even in very poor weather. The same for TCAS - nice to have but hardly essential in our environment and possibly an unwanted distraction - TDAs and good lookout seem to work for most SAROps.
As for AIS, when all the shipping (of all sizes) and all the liferafts, lifeboats and lifejackets have transponders fitted (although 406 beacons seem just as good)- then it might be a lifesaver. At the moment it is a tool to track ship movements and seems to have spawned some ship-spotters websites. You have it because the MCA like it, not because it is a major tool for SAROPs (except possibly in the MRCC for command and control).
The Sea King range is exactly as I stated and role kit can be removed very quickly. And more importantly the old girl can still get to 240 nm and have enough room for 17 seated survivors.
Who actually controls the FLIR on a FLIR search? I'm betting it's not the co-pilot.
The Sea King is old and has variable serviceability, no-one has ever denied that and the S92 is new and shiny and it should be (and mostly is) streets ahead in terms of performance and safety, otherwise what the hell have Sikorsky and others been doing for the last 50 years. Would I like to have one to do my job? Yes once the lack of ELS is addressed.
Steve oc - define large supercooled droplets - does that mean the sort you get in warmish icing cloud - if so it's not much of an icing clearance and how are you supposed to know how big the droplets that you are hitting are?
Running in - it has not been tested above 3000' DA so there isn't one - I don't think the navy ever saw a reason for an ASW helicopter to operate up there. It doesn't seem to have stopped us getting on with the job though, you just have to go round rather than over.
As for future manning post 2012, the only sensible plan is to blob up all the 66 mil pers in 2 flights from which the Falklands are supported. Mixing crews would be such a management nightmare with all the divisions in working practices, pay, pensions, leave entitlement, OOA dets, extra duties, access to mil support for claims, career progression etc etc not to mention which rules to fly to and who is captain of the aircraft.
Spanish - the RN have aircraft but no crews to fly them. The Sea King 3 fleet has its peaks and troughs of serviceability, the 3A's are much better generally (newer airframes and modernish avionics). What exectly is the problem with the 139 for night jobs?