Geoffers - you hit the nail on the head re the RNLI - its a sound and sensible idea in principle - although I suspect they would end up contracting it out to a "helicopter provison company" in reality and what difference to SAR-H then? Your point about volunteers etc is the show stopper - I heard it from the previous RNLI "horse's mouth" - they do not want to be perceived as loosing their volunteer status - they believe (quite rightly no doubt) that this is one of the main drivers for them being such a successful charity. Hence they have considered entering the British helo SAR game in the past but have rejected it so far.
