.. ... the fears of many.
OSM, the fears of the many are usually based upon a position of ignorance. It can be a long hard path drilling down through the mists of time, the rather chaotic unplanned evolutionary nature of previous services, the really cr4p Sea King myth, the obscurations of the SAR workload by incompetent departmental reporting, and the years of highly specialist knowledge and experience that stand between the external observer and the practitioners.
After a lot of time spent asking stupid questions, my conclusions are that the contractor is up to the task (as would their 2 nearest competitors clearly have been) and the CAA is up to the task. In the early stages, I expect the same minor capability droop that one would expect with any introduction of new types.
The customer, on the other hand, continues to be a concern. The customer is the DfT and they are effectively British Rail by another name. They have done a pretty good job of handling the two recent SAR contracts and the specialist help they have recruited has resulted in a good set of requirements. The customer's agent is clearly specialist in Maritime and Coast matters. So there we have specialist knowledge in Rail, Maritime and Coast, yet the overwhelming majority of the UK SAR jobs are Land. That is where my principal concerns about this service currently lie.
I remain interested in the details of other matters such as pilot or rear-crew standards, or aircraft capability and SAR role fit. I cannot fail to be impressed by the highly professional individuals that I have met and communicated with who are progressing such matters.
The DfT and the MCA have two years to notice that this is not same old same old and that the workload on the ten bases is not Portland or Sumburgh writ large. I wish them success.