In the words of Jethro 'What 'appened was' - Chiv were down to a 3 man crew yesterday due to the manning shortages we are currently experiencing; there was no winchman on shift so the flight maintained a medevac only capability. No one likes it but it is just the way it is and the blame lies at many doors.
The headline news might have been that we were all going down to 4 crews per flight but the reality is that we have been operating under that, in terms of rearcrew, for a good while now - 4 winchmen and radops per flight would be a godsend.
Thanks to Portland for plugging the gap
