PPRuNe Forums - LONG RANGE SAR

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So, God forbid, should an airliner come down at 30W, which asset will we be using to conduct the long hours of search and possible rescue? Sadly, these things do happen... :rolleyes:

The Navy?

There's a couple of Nimrods in fast taxying condition (I know, I know)

C-130?

Options are fairly limited it would seem.

t7,

Get your MP to ask the question on your behalf!

Then you'll get the 'official' answer.

Great question. Sadly we have nothing. Our wonderful government's mitigation is to rely on the French...

Wilst working at Pitreavie in the 80's the 'plan' was to despatch a couple of C130's with large rafts and drop them in the vicinity, send the Navy and ask the USAF to help with C130 and CH53., not much but it was the best at the time.

That's ancient history and doesn't exist anymore. We have no assets to take on this task. The end.

Here's a bite...

Right Alfred the Great...you have got my blood up.

A ship travels at 12-20kts, so unless it's in the right place already, everyone who survived the crash at 30W will probably die. It takes too long to get to the scene and conducts a slow search.

A Long Range MPA travels at 300+kts, so some people who survived the crash at 30W might survive because timely and accurate location is more likely, Apparatus Sea Rescue can be thrown at the survivors, some of whom might just be able to climb aboard.

The UK government took a conscious decision to do away with that capability.

Next.

In terms of military platforms, the UK has a C-130J that is supposedly available for SAR tasking, although it is not a dedicated SAR asset.

What equipment the aircraft carries, and how well trained the crews are, I could not answer. Perhaps a C-130J man can? However, do remember that the C-130J fleet have provided long range maritime SAR around the Falkland Islands for many years, and have had some success doing so!

Quote:

t7,Get your MP to ask the question on your behalf!
Then you'll get the 'official' answer.

I did. And got a load of waffle from someone who clearly didn't have a scooby what he was talking about. His constituency includes St Mawgan.....

Ok Biggus. Please enlighten us as to what sort of standby that's on right now??!!

Quote:

Therefore, the Azores Air Detachment and the Portuguese Air Force's 502nd and 751st Squadrons operate in the archipelago, where they're uniquely positioned to respond to these underway Atlantic emergencies. The Portuguese Air Force search and rescue arsenal consists of two EH-101 Merlin helicopters and one Casa C-295M, which remain on 24-hour alert at the base. SAR crews in the Merlin typically consist of a pilot, co-pilot, systems operator, rescue swimmer and nurse. Other Portuguese search and rescue assets include the P-3 Orion and C-130 Hercules.

Since the beginning of 2012, Portuguese aircraft operating from Lajes Field have combined for 232 search and rescue missions, coming to the aid of 252 people.

When executing search and rescue missions, these aircraft count on American fuel pumped by the 65th Logistics Readiness Squadron Fuels Management Flight.

"Within the past year alone, the Fuels Management Flight supported Portuguese SAR missions with a grand total of 220,400 gallons of fuel, servicing the C-295 and EH-101 aircraft," said Staff Sgt. Lucas Thompson, 65th LRS Fuels Service Center NCOIC. The 65th LRS receives as many as four calls a day to assist the Portuguese SAR team.

When the SAR unit contacts the 65th LRS' control center, a fuels operator arrives on scene within minutes to provide up to 1,000 gallons of fuel. Speed is key, said Master Sgt. Frank Berrones, 65th LRS Fuels Management Flight superintendent.

Although the Air Force once used a 30-minute standard for which operators must respond to aircraft fueling requests, no true standard exists, said Berrones.

There is a C130 in Halifax NS that is on 30 mins standby by day and from memory 1 hr at night.

FG - I'd wager there are more ships out there than you think. There would likely be a ship on station within 12 - 18 hours.

betty,

You first - tell us all what standby the duty SAR Nimrod MR2 was on in the final years of the fleet.

And why the ??!! when all I did was inject some facts into a thread running solely on conjecture.

Biggus. I'm not interested in raking up the facts of the past. The MR2 history has been aptly covered on various other threads, I'm sure you'll agree.

You claim to put "facts" on this thread re C-130 SAR commitment.

We DON'T have one. Fact.

betty,

At the end of it's life the MR2 fleet had an aircraft on 2hrs notice to fly, for either SAR or other possible scenarios I won't discuss here. The standby crew had long stopped staying overnight in respective messes, and were at home on pagers.

TODAY the UK has a C-130J on a similar standby 24/7 for a variety of tasks, once again I won't go into them on this forum, but one of them is SAR provision.

I'm sorry if this FACT doesn't fit with your personal agenda, but it is nevertheless a FACT.

I have already stated my reservations about the capability of this asset to conduct SAR, but it is available to be tasked, and denying it won't alter that FACT!

I have no agenda. And again, I resent your tone. And your tone towards me previously in other threads. I am simply trying to point out that we are in a poor state long range SAR wise. As per the question at the start of the thread.
If you wish to remain in cloud cuckoo land believing we have a Herc on 24 hour standby, able to conduct LR SAR, you're perfectly at will to believe that. I'd have at least thought with your previous military service, you'd have an amount of scepticism about this claim.

Quick question if I may.

How many airliners have crashed in the mid-atlantic in the last couple of years? How many passengers survived these crashes?

I think some one needs to have a sleep.