SAR Winchman's Course

[thepurplepheonix]

Gents - can anyone give me an idea of the course content of the SAR conversion to winchman? I understand the initial phase is undertaken at Valley before moving onto the mighty Sea King; also that the medical course is pretty much equivalent to NHS paramedic standard.

Thanks for any help
TPP

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Lots of facing forward, giving clear hand signals and above all keeping the wire straight:)

[thepurplepheonix]

Outstanding starter for ten, crab! Do elaborate!
:D

[jonnyloove]

Dont know the course details now but the basic SAR winchmans course was nav, wet winching & night work and various other bits you will enjoy it. As for the paramedics course it covers most off the same syllibus but it covers the use off pain releaf in more deapth as with most pre-hospital care your sometimes along way from hospital and airway managment. They are mega keen on the use off LMA's now.
all the best with the course.

[No Vote Joe]

TPP, Why the enquiry? If your interested in becoming a Shining Knight and you're currently serving, give any of the Flts a ring (or SARTU, or the OCU!!) and they'll be more than happy to give you all the info you need and arrange a visit if you can get the time to do it.

Crab, Wire staightening! And to think we defended your honour only last week, how could you!! :{

Jonny, Still fairly wooly and quite wide of the mark regarding LMA's. All the SAR Paramedics have the same registration and skill sets as any guy on the road, and in some cases more.

[jonnyloove]

Hi there Joe I triedto give an overall view its been sometime since i did my paramedics course and felt i was giving and overall view.

[The Swinging Monkey]

thepurplepheonix

As someone who was a winchman many years ago, I would agree with No Vote Joe that you should give one of the flights a ring, and go spend some time with them.

I'm sure the course will have changed since I did it, but I can tell you that it is, without doubt, the most satisfying and rewarding job that I ever did in the RAF.

Hard work, and lots of bu££ering about, but a job second to none!

best of luck with it.
TSM

[jonnyloove]

LMA's are also known as Fanny on a stick!!!!:}
Makes me laugh every time!!

[OKOC]

The most miserable time of my entire life was spent at SARTU thanks to the likes of the premadonnas like Andy Ball and Karl Pollock--good luck--they don't so much teach you as look out of the window on Day 1 and assess you as you walk down the slope. If you're a Nav forget it KP never passed one and was proud of it. ****. Bitter-yes, is it better--who knows--Ducking now.

[No Vote Joe]

OKOC, It is a lot better now, I can assure you. The days of being blacked-balled as you walked from the car park with return rail warrents being filled out by mid morning are long since passed.

I think you'll find there are a lot of good guy's at SARTU now (yes, and some old f@rts too!!), but there is far more satisfaction taken by by nurturing someone through the course than chopping them! :ok:

[Sven Sixtoo]

Just for the record Karl Pollock taught me a lot and I had no problem with him.

Sven

[Mr Point]

The conversion, if you are already a helicopter crewman, starts with 3 months at SARTU (RAF Valley) and builds up from winching over the golf course, through drums, wets and decks, to long(ish) cable cliff winching (sits).

The OCU course at St. Mawgan is around 6 months, depending on the weather, and builds on the skills learned at Valley.

There is also pre-employment Basic Immediate Emergency Care training with the Army near Aldershot, giving you Ambulance Technician skills (and a little bit more).

The extended IEC training is the advanced medical skills training, after which you will be a registered paramedic. This tends to be about 18 months after arriving on the flight.

As has already been said through, get in touch with one of the flights.

[thepurplepheonix]

Excellent info - thanks gents. Will get in touch with a nearby flight soonest.

TPP

[No Vote Joe]

thepurplepheonix
As someone who was a winchman many years ago, I would agree with No Vote Joe.......

Monkster, A first! You've never agreed with me before!!!!!!! :) Bring back Spitting Image ;)

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Purplephoenix - sorry for my offhand reply but I knew there would be lots of properly trained cabin management professionals who could give you a more up to date and detailed reply - it's a long time since I instructed at SARTU but some of those 'old farts' were and are quite good at their jobs.

If you give your location we can tell you where your nearest SAR flt is and probably who to contact to arrange a visit.

[thepurplepheonix]

Hi Crab, no problem at all - got some excellent info. Many thanks.

TPP