Things do change
"As I said, different technologies can provide different 'best ways' of doing business. The trick, of course, is to continue those 'best ways' where appropriate while avoiding the assumption that all of those 'best ways' MUST transfer between types/technologies."
LN, I agree with you entirely but there will be many old dogs who will argue (I think there may be a few on here) that why try and reinvent the RAF SAR wheel.
I can't remember the name of the yank who closed down a US patent office in 1899 or thereabouts saying "everything that can be invented has been".
Having used the old doppler system and the newer AFCS in the modern SAR a/c I disagree with crab that the w/op is best placed to conduct that type of job. In some cases he MAY be but the built in delay can make the job harder and with the presentation the pilot now has in front of him he can tell exactly where the a/c is going and what speed and has the ability to change that in an instant rather than waiting the few seconds it takes for the Winch/op system.
Maybe some of the older RAF SAR crews can tell us whether the procedures that were used on the Whirlwind, Wessex were different to the SK days.
Happy new year.