Have to add my five cents worth,
412 bringing in MRTs is a joke? We do it often and it works - of course it would be better to have bigger machine, but on distances we are operating with, a second flight might solve the problem. Small cabin in 412 - my knees are sore sometimes, but some padding helps alot and doctors like it much more than A-109Power or EC-135 as they can at least move around a little...
From what I have seen in the UK and many other places my heart goes with Aussies - a right mix of fleet and capabilities to meet the demand.
In Europe -yes, hoisting in Alps is done with A-109K2 in Switzerland and EC-135 with hoist can be seen in south Germany, Italy, etc. but for my taste, these helicopters are simply too small for such type of operation. (You cannot bring hoisted person inside A-109 - must land first!) but they are the cheapest one to do the job. You need at least four ton class helicopter for decent hoist operation.
What is important is the care for the patient, that is bringing EMS specialists TO THE PATIENT and not rushing him to the hospital, that might be an hour or more away - and here Crab, your excellent SAR service lags behind many others. Dividing SAR from HEMS is simply a nonsense! I know it, I am fighting for merger of these in my country too - as we also can feel "SAR is military, HEMS is civillian!" problem. Add on this "Search for missing persons is police task" plus "HEMS is Health/doctors domain" and a mess is complete! Trying to bring two ministries together is difficult, bringing Defese ministry, Home Office and Ministry of health behind one table and asking them to merge current services or create a dedicated one or whatever else that would solve the problem, looks like mission impossible. But it is the only reasonable way forward, anything else is just keeping status quo.
Talking about costs - 5000 pounds per hour of SK tells you nothing. You have to take in account all costs and you will find out that costs are much higher, but spread in many items. Majority of air rescue costs are fixed - depreciation, salaries, training, insurance etc. Variable costs are created only when rotors are turning - and I can assure you,that these are mostly dwarfed by fixed costs. Recently I had a chance to run a roundtable on future of air rescue in my country. There was a lot of talking that this is an expensive service and it is difficult to get it to higher level, (more bases, night capability etc). So I asked the most responsible persons of my country how much our current air rescue system cost our taxpayers/insurees, and guess what? Nobody could tell. The only thing that is known is hourly charge for 412 (provided by police or military) that covers variable costs. (approx. 1300 EUR)
By not knowing basics you can manage nothing!
Bolkow, I am afraid your "5000 poud per hour would pay for many EC 135" argument is just a guesswork.
Regards,
hoistop