Originally Posted by
SASless
HC ....does so from a Non-SAR Background.
Sort of, yes and no. As I mentioned, I was Chief Trainer on the L2 fleet - that "fleet" consisting only of G-JSAR. I had a conflict with some of the pilots: My feeling was that first of all, they had to be licenced pilots with an IR. That meant they had to pass an OPC and LPC, do procedural IFR airfield approaches, do CAT/Group A arrivals and departures. THEN, they could be SAR pilots by adding on the SAR training. But in some cases, all the first bit was somewhat resented. They just wanted to wazz around at 200' with things dangling. Given the choice when returning to base from a training sortie in poor weather, some would prefer to scrape in at 200' every time, rather than fly an ILS. Thus they routinely operated with lower safety margins than necessary, and when it came to OPC time they struggled to perform "normal pilot" stuff due to lack of practice.
Of course I realise I am taking on the SAR boys club here, but someone has to do it!