TC: the one below is a press release, so, apart from some good
PR, states anyway some facts...
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09/04/13
AW101 completes challenging mid-Atlantic rescue
A Portuguese Air Force (PtAF) AW101 has successfully completed a challenging night-time rescue mission in the mid-Atlantic, coming to the aid of a Spanish sailor whose yacht had capsized.
The 360nm (670km) sortie demonstrated the long-range search and rescue capabilities of the AW101 and was the longest rescue mission conducted using the aircraft for a casualty in the sea. The PtAF had previously completed a 380nm rescue from a vessel. The Commanding Officer of 751 Squadron later paid tribute to the AW101, saying that the rescue was only possible because of its night-time and range capabilities.
Aircraft 19601 was called into action on February 3 following reports that solo yachtsman Javier Sanso had encountered difficulties while competing in the Vendee Globe round-the-world yacht race. Deploying from Lajes in the Azores, the crew embarked on a daunting 8.5 hour rescue that also involved a refuelling stop in Santa Maria before they could reach the scene of the incident.
The standard SAR configuration for the PtAF AW101 uses 3,000kg of fuel – enough for three hours’ cruise at 120kt plus 400-600kg of reserve fuel. For ultra long-range missions such as this one, the aircraft’s range can be extended through completely filling the internal tanks and by adding an internal ferry tank, holding about 900kg of fuel. The total fuel on board when departing Santa Maria was around 5,000kg and the helicopter was also stripped of all unnecessary equipment to reduce weight.
Conducting a search for the casualty in pitch black conditions, with no external reference points and completely on instruments, the crew eventually managed to locate Javier who was down to his final flare. Having dispensed this flare his last resort was to wave a handheld lantern to alert the crew to the position of his life raft.
With the aircraft low on fuel and time running out, he was recovered from the water suffering from the early effects of hypothermia but with no critical injuries. He was the flown back to the Azores for treatment in hospital.
The rescue also brought the number of lives saved by the AW101 since it entered service with the PtAF to 1,039.
PtAF operations are enabled by AgustaWestland's Full In Service Support (FISS) availability performance delivery system, which has fully supported the PtAF's operational needs for over 4 years. FISS successfully harmonises and integrates the management functions and functional outputs of the PtAF, AgustaWestland and key Portuguese suppliers to provide the necessary scheduled and corrective maintenance in addition to material and technical support.
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... so, reading that AW101s in Portugal have already saved 1039 lives, at least they do not deserve to be called "damn things"
