@cfr:
Autohover is not required for night winchings. The kraut Sea King actually never uses the Aux Hover for winchings, only during transition training.
However I do agree that a slightly bigger platform should make nite ops over the sea a bit easier.
@eivissa:
You are correct, SAR is provided by the Sea King Mk 41 alone.
The DRF and a few other operators in the North Sea are doing HEMS only.
Some of them only during daylight.
Tom