Originally Posted by
louisnewmark
Al-Bert: I hear you regarding kit complexity vs capability, but I also know that you have not operated a modern SAR aircraft with all that 'complexity' to be able to make a fair comparison. What it normally provides is, ironically for this scenario, far greater situational awareness, especially for the pilots whose quality of SA is no longer solely reliant on the quality of a dedicated radar operator's 'mouth music'...but ex-S61 crews will know that! In that respect operating a modern aircraft normally (!) takes up less mental capacity, not more. For this reason, I wonder if there was a degree of cognitive bias at work here: the Irish crew were expecting very low-lying rocks rather than a big island, so that's how they interpreted their displays.
Have you operated an RAF Sea King with full NVG fit Louis? There didn't seem to be much SA for this poor crew. You are right, I have never operated an S92 nor do I wish to but in 22 years of SAR I seemed to retain SA fairly well. As I said before - the job is the same - it appears to have become more complex, at least for the front enders. Sometimes there was poetry in the 'mouth music' which you scoff at - perhaps you were RN?
