...though bear in mind that this article is misleading, in that it suggests that both yellow Sea Kings and their crews are being sent to Afghanistan, whereas neither is true - people are leaving on posting, often to fill personnel shortages in Training Command (or whatever it's called these days), and not being replaced. Some choose to go SH, but it's not true that all, or even many, of those leaving the SAR Force will end up in Afghan.
The number of SAR Sea Kings will stay the same, and the intention is to maintain the same degree of cover as always (ie 1sts and 2nds) if possible. Crab is right that the chances of being able to man both aircraft at once have already been compromised at several places, and this will only get worse - and the MOD have chosen to ignore the risk. It's interesting that, to my knowledge, the 2nd Standby aircraft at the various bases have seen more action in the last two years than for some time previously (Gloucester floods, Sheffield floods, Morpeth floods, Grayrigg train crash etc, as well as 'normal' SAROps). Not for much longer though!
The importance of rescue helicopters was highlighted this weekend when an RAF crew saved six children and two fathers. They had become stranded yesterday afternoon while travelling in an inflatable boat down the River Tees at Dalton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire. With the boat trapped on an island in the middle of the rising river, the helicopter was scrambled and winched all six to safety.
Actually it was all eight that we picked up - good fun winching them up through the trees! Good thing we had a nice big aircraft so we could easily manage 12 POB, even if 6 of them were on the small side!