llamaman - presumably you have had some H and S advice about lifting - the old 'lift with your legs not your back' sort of thing?
Now try lifting even a 12 stone patient on a stretcher (let alone a bariatric casualty of 20 plus stone) whilst kneeling down. Does that explain the issue with cabin height?
It just wouldn't be allowed in a land ambulance yet, despite aircraft of the size of the SK/S61/S92 being available and eminently suitable for ALL UK SAR tasks, you and others see it as the right way forward for SARH.
They have to buy ambulances of the right size to do the job, why not select the helicopter in the same way? When we are already talking billions of taxpayers money, why are we quibbling about a few million to go for an all - S92 fleet?
Politicians have been fawning and fighting over Westlands for many years but they are making a mistake if they influence the SARH process just to gain political kudos.