Goodness me, the annual cat check/line check for a PNF on the civsar fleet must be very extensive - as well as all the flying, navigating, RT, monitoring the PF and aircraft systems - he needs to be checked out on his radar letdowns and FLIR skills - he/she must be paid twice as much as the Captain for all that expertise.
Normally the Capt does the highly paid bit and co-pilot flies/watches it do its automatics beautifully. But they (co-pilots) are more than able to do such 'mystical' feats of SAR God like tricks and are paid as much as a Crab SAR Captain for it.
A proper, independent safety case for radar letdowns, IMC overwater was conducted by one of the bidders for SARH - they then changed their spec from a 120 radar to a 360 one - why do you think that was?
Because their bid team was awash with Crabs as well and they hedged their bets, thats all....smoke and mirrors.
Not saying the Sea King system is perfect - removing the blind arc would help a lot but it is much better to be able to see into an area where you are going to turn (not possible with a 120 without even more manoeuvring) and being able to stay heading into wind whilst you manoeuvre to radar minimums sideways or backwards makes for much safer operations.
Well, you have convinced yourself so that's that matters.
PS the radar and FLIR screens are visible from the door when the Radop is winching
Shouldn't he be looking at the winchman? hardly think squinting 45degrees across 5-6 feet in a poorly lit rear SK cabin at night is a sensible thinks whilst Biggles AFC & Bar is swing through the rigging below.
