Originally Posted by
DOUBLE BOGEY
HC you know I am your number 1 Fan, however, as I am sure mr CRAB will explain, SAROPS normally has two sets and of limits. 1 for training and tooling about, and a second, more liberal set of limits for SAR Live Missions.
i think at this stage there is just not enough information to make any sense of what happened.
Sure, I understand there are 2 sets of limits. My point is that I question whether the 2 sets of limits are always appropriately applied. They weren't in the case of G-JSAR (although it wasn't relevant to the cause of the accident). I would question whether an aircraft providing "top cover" should be operating to rescue limits. Surely it is mostly a "nice to have" thing now that we have satphones etc, and doesn't justify a higher risk factor than normal tooling around.
I also question whether the "tooling around" limits don't have significantly lower safety margins than CAT IFR, and I also suspect (but can't prove) that crews quite like operating to SAR limits and generally seek justification for doing so, rather than having a predisposition for using the "tooling around" limits unless there is a clear need not to.