Fair points Hedski, especially on the short-lived 3 man crew situation which was a result of the OCU being underresourced for a while.
As for the aircraft availability rate - I think 98% is what is in the contract but none of the civsar flights (up to now) have had to deal with the flying rate of Prestwick, Valley or Chivenor, all of which regularly top 300 jobs per year.
Out of interest, I believe the 3A fleet were managing 98%, but maybe that was just Chivenor (the best SAR flight in the UK, but only until the end of next month)
However, as has been highlighted, we won't know how it is going on the front line in the new service because the MCA just don't publish that sort of info and, once the ARRCK closes, I will be surprised if there is a version of the RCS from the new MOCC.