basically the Treasury don't want to spend a small fortune up front on a new set of helicopters for SAR
i'm sure Bristow's will be effective and just as professional - after all the Lifeboat service is run by volunteers and no one complains about their service and the Bristow's crews will be full-time and not looking at a move to a desk job in Whitehall as part of their future career path
really Military SAR is a hangover from 1940-44 - you could never call it a core competency or really that necessary for the military function - almost all SAR flights these days are to pull civilians out of a hole or (more likely) off a mountain
and Stop start is correct about a lot of things
Last edited by Heathrow Harry; 26th Mar 2013 at 16:25.