Bristow Photos

[Dave Ed]

SAR UK

SAR UK


The info below was correct eleven years ago. Things have moved on a bit since then! Rather than change the tense I'll leave it as it was first written.





As can be seen from the map the Coastguard SAR 61 bases are located at Stornoway, Sumburgh, Lee-on-Solent and Portland. The first base to come on line was Sumburgh in 1983 and was followed by Stornoway, 1987, Lee-on Solent, 1988, and finally, Portland in 1995.
All the contracts have been successfully rebid after competitive tendering and are normally awarded for a five year period.

Each base is equipped with a primary SAR machine being fitted out with 4 axis coupled autopilots, forward looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, dual hoists, VHF and UHF homers, electronic HSIs with RNAV and weather radar overlay and numerous navigation systems ( NAV, ADF, RNAV, DME, GPS, DOPPLER ).
Then there are the dual radio altimeters, AVAD (ground proximity warning), mode C Transponder and comms systems including dual VHF and single HF, UHF, FM. How do we fit it all in I hear you say? With great difficulty says I, speaking from experience!
Each base can also call on the services of a back-up aircraft when the need arises although they are not equipped to such a degree.


This shot is of G-BIMU at Lee-on-Solent. The base used to be shared with the military who have long since departed. The building behind the 61 houses the line office, crew room, stores, workshops etc etc.
Both helicopter and crew are required to remain at 15 minutes notice to proceed between 0800 - 2100 and at 45 minutes overnight. Recently I was carrying out a pre-mod survey on G-BIMU when it was called out and it was out running in about 5 minutes!





G-BDOC hovering over the remains of "Piper Alpha".




This Sumburgh based machine is ideally positioned to cover the northern North Sea oilfields.

The Coastguard Helicopter's primary role is for maritime search and rescue but can be tasked in an additional role in support of the Police, Mountain Rescue or Fire Service or to assist with patient transfer. The Stornoway machine is frequently required to carry out long range missions into the Atlantic to the extent of their range (245 nm) although this is not carried out without the assistance of an RAF Nimrod as cover for the helicopter and casualty location prior to the helicopters arrival.

Currently based at Lee-on-Solent, G-BDIJ can often be seen, during the summer months, acting like a mother hen to the hundreds of yachts and other small craft which crowd the Solent. The SAR operations have a close link with the local community and each base has endless amounts of press articles cut from local newspapers telling the story of numerous incidents in which their helicopter was involved.
It used to be quite common for TV news crews to fly on missions but recently we have been fitting VCRs to the aircraft to enable rescue footage to be sold on the world media market and hopefully help with funding.





As part of the contract the SAR crews spend many hours on training exercises and work closely with the other emergency services. This photo shows G-BCLC (currently a standby aircraft) on a typical training sortie with the local lifeboat crew.






A lot of very grateful people have passed through this door. It is a brave man who hangs on a thin cable over a stricken ship in the middle of a force 8 gale.





This shot shows a crewman at the FLIR station. He is controlling the FLIR camera with a small joystick and monitoring the image on a TV monitor housed inside the white box.






The configuration of the S61N lends itself to the search and rescue role. The long stable fuselage provides an excellent platform for winching whilst the large unobstructed cabin allows room for the carriage of rescue, safety and survival equipment, and for the resuscitation and first aid treatment of survivors.









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