Whether to Use Reserve Winch or Otherwise
The Captain used his very proffesional and expert judgement and deceided against using the reserve winch as indicated below.
On arrival at vessel CPR being carried out by crew on boat. Lowered winchman to RIB and he elected for immediate Double Lift of casualty. As winchman and casualty were winched clear of vessel we haad a hoist failure on the aft hoist. (hoist will winch out but not in) Recycled hoist switch and winched in a further 5ft and hoist failed again. Due to winchman and unconcious casualty being 10ft below the aircraft and winchman having difficulty keeping casualty in the two strops, we elected to transit 1/2mile to an outcrop of land on Portland Island where we winched out the casualty and winchman to the deck. We landed on 10ft to the right of casualty and winchman. Winch op got out the a/c and winchman and winch op recovered casualty into the back of the a/c. We were then able to recover the winch cable as per normal as there was no weight on the wire. Flown direct to Dorchester A&E Hospital LS
The above operation took 3 minutes far less than trying to employ the reserve winch,. a decision the Captain & crew need commending for. 