Did any of you gents have the experience in the 70's and 80's of being rosterd 'out of the blue' to fly your F27 on a real or practice SAR drop?
In other words, as a line crew, being told that your aircraft was in the process of having the galley removed, and a swarm of SAR officers from the Department would be loading a collection of rafts, stores, smoke floats and heliboxes which they intended to throw out the open rear door in flight. Further, they would be installing their own Heath-Robinson intercom system( which usually failed). Finally, one or two of these characters would brief you on the expected proceedings, including the various drop patterns to be conducted at 150 - 200 feet agl.
Any f..... questions!!!
As one of those down the back I would be interested in your memories and opinions of those times.