Bootneck? With a beard?
 

Suggest, Petty Officer or Chief Petty Officer Aircrewman?

Medtxfrs?
 

Get into your DASA stats lads - GANNET does indeed do a fair chunk of med txfrs, it comes from being close to the Scottish Retrieval Service (Doc's who go out to stabilise and bring back patients from the outlying hospitals) based out of the Bond huts at the SECC in Glasgow. However, Vec's statement that "most" of GANNET' jobs are txfrs is utter sh*te.

Most jobs are pukka rescues, mainly in the mountains, often at night. For eg, last Saturday the boys did 3 jobs - at The Cobbler (day), Glen Coe and Glen Pean (20nm N Fort Bill) (both night). The outfit didn't get 3 AFC's, a QGM and 2 QCBA's this year for doing med txfrs.

It's certainly not a competition, but since the issue has been raised - GANNET does the most rescues/medrescues of any SAR unit - period, just ask your friendly DASA stat man to show the facts to you, and see how they compare with our friends and neighbours in the yellow cabs. We prefer quality to quantity but I'm afraid the PR folks sometimes launch the story to get a few headlines regardless. I'm sure Dave Webster would agree.

Facts Vec, facts. Give 'em a try next time you post - I might take you seriously.

Oh, and the "Bootneck" is a Chief Petty Officer Aircrewman - same rank as a Flt Sgt. Good spot on the beard, by all but our resident SAR "expert" Vec.

SB

Sorry, I'll check next time. Mind you I have done a fair bit of SAR work.

I'm a little unsure why you are defending Med transfers in such an aggressive manner. Medical transfers are something that Debs and Flory take very seriously and are quite rightly proud of. By you defending them in such a manner it seems that you are embarrassed or feel shame by them. You have no need to be ashamed of them though so please don't be scared to be proud of them….

The last time I did a job up at Gannet it was a med transfer of a seriously ill lady from Bute to Glasgow....all done on Goggs in poor weather and with a requirement to fly under the bridge to boot.... Not for the faint hearted. So I feel that you have no need to defend Med transfers as if they are not as punchy as cliff / Mountain rescues....They have equal status.

Vec

Thank you for endorsing our flying. We'll all sleep better now, knowing we don't need to hang our heads in shame. Keep up the good work.

SB

Search-and-rescue helicopter £5bn PFI deal nears take off - Telegraph

This is news to me, as last time i heard (from some people at Dartmouth) was that the navy were putting pilots direct into the SAR stream, seems a bit strange as they apparently hav'nt done that for years so it seemed the PFI was'nt going to happen. Now it is....

Also reduction in helicoper capacity by a considerable margin meaning less cabs in a major incident ect. But i imagine these cabs being new will have a far higher servacibilty rate so maybe offsetting this issue.

any views?

Please forgive my ignorance but can anyone tell me how long this PFI contract lasts. It seems like a hell of a lot of dosh for 25-30 cabs + crews. :confused:

...but an aircraft which doesn't exist will have lower serviceability than a Sea King which may or may not be available at a given time, so a bigger fleet (and crucially, more crews) is preferable. The Sea King still does surprisingly well in terms of serviceability, given its age and complexity, and the SAR Force has been able to send a number of aircraft to all the major incidents of recent years when multipole aircraft were required.

However, for full discussion of all the issues relating to SAR-H, it's probably best to look at the 'SAR-H to go?' thread on Rotorheads rather than start the Hamster Wheel afresh on this thread.

Any truth in the rumour I have heard that the RAF were unable to transport paramedics to man with a "serious medical condition" on Holly Is because Boulmer had "run-out of flying hours"?

The medics went by lifeboat I was told but the casulty was not in a condition to be transported by boat so had to wait 4 hours until the tide went out and could be moved by vehicle.

Sox, because of the undermanning of the RAFSARforce (thanks to MoD ignorance) when a flight has a crew in the Falklands (as Boulmer does at the moment), they will only operate on a 12 hour per day basis.

I suspect that this is what has happened in this case.

There are lots of 'serious medical conditions' that are not immediately life threatening - if the casualty was that critical, a SAR helicopter from a different flight would have been tasked.

Due to cost-cutting in the SARH contract, Boulmer are supposed to operate 12 hours per day permanently so the locals had better get used to it.

Thanks for the helpful answer.

Who descides if another aircraft is tasked, the medics, ambulance control or the RCC?

That depends on what the task is.... who is paying for it and which asset is the nearest.

If its a Military asset (Ship / Aircraft or MRT) then the RCC will task it, although certain coastguard units may task the SAR unit directly and in lifesaving emergencies the Coastguard may and often do go straight to the SAR asset.

It could be the case that Boulmer were on a different job - they have had several a day for the last week or so. If this is true, and the idea that the aircraft was out of flying hours is simply rumour, I wonder who started spreading it - it wouldn't be the first time that the mil SAR units have been the victims of lies spread by competitors...