Crab@ - You really are a fool
"Like so many others, you have believed the 'it must be cheaper to civilianise' argument just because it seems obvious if you don't know anything about SAR."...........
There you go again Crab - making assumptions! Well I'll let you into a secret; Rottweiler was flying SAR before you even started at Cranwell. Rottweiler has also flown extensive Civvy SAR.
Be very careful of your assumptions because again you touch on Civvy NVG CAA clearances and make wholly misinformed assumptions; I am sat next to the same CAA Flight Ops Inspector who was extremely interested in your suggestion that a (Commercial Air Transport) helicopter returning with a single engine failure should climb to 2000' and then Autorotate to the runway with 20 POB as a safer option! You even then continued to argue on that thread when the ex CAA Helo Perf Consultant pointed out the mathematics and probabilities of serials failures!!!
Before you start again - yes the Flight Ops Inspector was an Ex Military QHI (You would probably now resort to asking which service).
You continually set yourself up as the master of all things SAR when you have actually very limited and "blinkered" experience.
You talk about Military also probably being the cheapest - well I have also flown Military SAR and Civvy SAR - you may be surprised to know that Stornoway / Sumburgh / and Lee often would provide 24/7 SAR cover with ONE aircraft out of ONE and with 1 engineer and 1 labourer on Duty! My experience of Navy and RAF SAR squadrons was many more engineers and many more aircraft - I know I know that the military aircraft have other tasks etc but that doesn't present well from an economy point of view.
Now before you spout more of your opinions about civvy SAR let us all know what your experience of anything civvy is? I won't have the time to reply to all your doubtless comments because unlike you I am contracting now on a civvy Oil & Gas unit where manning is Lean (yes that is coming the RAF way too) and I do what I am paid to do and the company makes a profit (or not) and is accountable at the end of the year!
I would however be extremely interested in your opinion (if Harmonisation goes ahead) as to why you feel the need for ANY continued SAR exposure to RAF crews because as we all know CSAR and SAR have only the letters SAR in common and anyway SAR as you and I know it would be covered by the Royal Navy at sea - a secondary task all RN helo crews are trained in!
Finally can you assure us all that your ridiculous banter on here is restricted to your time "Off Duty"?
Look forward to interviewing you in the civvy world!