Hi Crab - well you wouldn't expect me to not reply would you?
All good points you make - in principle and from both our own experiences - I have a feeling I might have been part of the first RAF SK crew that actually did an internal aids IMC recovery in anger to a certain Scottish base - but then.....it was along long time ago ( a certain Sgt Webb might have been on the tube too!!)
As for such technques' use in the future vs (expensive (a relative term) but safe) recovery aids - I'm afraid my vote still goes to the recovery aids - and the statistical certainty (or not) of needing to use them on exactly the occasion that you are full of contamination! My thoughts are also with the cost/likelihood of getting a proper clearance to do an internal aids recovery with the likely kit available to a SAR-H ac (whether mil or civ registered - thoughts of A139 night clearances have some indirect bearing on this argument)) vs the more regular need to get down to useful limits such as 150 ft - often a very acceptable DH for the vast majority of recoveries. Its all a balance of investment decision - and you can swing it one way or another - I am not sure I accept your point that internal aids recoveries have consistently allowed many recoveries to base in the poorest of weather. And of course - there's always the option of getting the GCs in a bus to come and sort the ac at the div location once the duty crew have done their bit too of course!
As for coastal base issue- I refer you to my previous but one post - I am and always will believe that there are many good reasons for having some if not the majority of SAR flts on the coast. But I also believe there are many good reasons for having others elswhere, depending on the missions you are trying to cover and the types of ac you have available - and of course the real and pressing need to keep operating costs within agreed bounds. I refer back to the Wattisham argument - no organisation worth its salt would have agreed to that location if the total through life op costs were on the table and needed to be managed within a budget - and thats before you considered the operational drivers in that part of the world that said it was crass anyway. I continue to believe there are better 21st century ways of sorting the complete UK SAR helo capability picture than just replicating the way we have done business for many decades. Much of it of course is well worth carrying across for ever - and its a shame some of it has already been allowed to change or dissappear - but onward we should be going - not just copying what we have done for the last 30 years with just another ac type - the public's expectation, the military requirement and the legislative, budgetary and regulatory environment require we it tackle it that way..I like to think!
All this is a long way from discussing Chivenor's forthcoming 12hr status by the way!!
