Callsign - “British Rescue” - with effect from 7 September 2023

[Deep Throat]

CAP 413 - Radiotelephony Manual

“British Rescue”

Aircraft operators involved in SAR activities will now use the callsign “British Rescue”, when the safety of life is involved, including HEMS emergency operational tasks or humanitarian tasks.

Abbreviated to “Rescue” by an ATS unit after initial contact, when appropriate within the UK FIR


Deep Throat - William Mark Felt Sr

[Gonzo]

My understanding is that 'British Rescue' callsign only applies to SAR flights when tasked by JRCC. Not HEMS.

From Policy Statement (caa.co.uk)

SAR and Coastguard flights.
Bristow Group operate Coastguard and SAR operations in the UK under contract to the British Government. It should be noted that “COASTGUARD” callsigns can be re-tasked as SAR flights by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC); these flights will then adopt the call sign ‘BRITISH RESCUE’.
Air traffic services (ATS) units in communication with the aircraft at the time of the re-tasking should inform the ATS unit, where one exists, at the departure aerodrome, of the change in callsign

HEMS and Police callsigns remain as they are today.

[rodan]

Is there Belgian, French, Dutch etc. Rescue as well?

“French Rescue” sounds like a euphemism.

[SpeedyCreek]

Perish the thought our SAR pilots might forget which country they're operating in.

[Equivocal]

I just see this as another one of those benefit of Brexit .

[Una Due Tfc]

The Irish SAR helicopters use the “Rescue” callsign currently. This will be just wonderful when SAR assets from both countries are on the same freq or assisting with the same incident, as they often do.

[mike current]

Originally Posted by Una Due Tfc

The Irish SAR helicopters use the “Rescue” callsign currently. This will be just wonderful when SAR assets from both countries are on the same freq or assisting with the same incident, as they often do.

One wonders how they manage at Heathrow with all those "Speedbird" callsigns on frequency at the same time

[DaveReidUK]

I think they cunningly manage to make the bit after "Speedbird" different for each one.

[Una Due Tfc]

Well in the above example, BA dispatch obviously know not to use the same trip numbers for different routes. I have had a number of incidents over the years of different operators with the exact same trip number in my sector which led to a couple of corrected read backs, EG ABC105 & DEF105. Submitting a report to Eurocontrol resulted in one of the carriers changing their trip number from “105” to “10X”.

JRCC and IMES will need to agree a list of trip/tail numbers for exclusive use by each entity now. Hopefully it occurs to them to do it.

Will the existing “UK Rescue” for land based coast guard stations still be in use? It would be interesting to have “Rescue 123” & “British Rescue 123” having to coordinate with “UK Rescue”.

[mike current]

My bad. I was being flippant. Fully aware how airline callsigns work
As far as I'm aware each HMCG station (or even airframe) uses a unique callsign. A quick Google search suggests that the Irish Rescue callsigns already use numbers not in use at any of the UK stations.
Disaster averted

[Gonzo]

Yes, Irish and UK SAR assets are already deconflicted in terms of callsigns, have been for years.

[mike current]

Only took 11 pprune posts to clarify something that didn't need clarified

[Buster the Bear]

Originally Posted by mike current

Only took 11 pprune posts to clarify something that didn't need clarified

That'll be because of Brexit