Jim, it was meant to be sent with a ;-) as its good news all round

A few minutes after the BBC posted the 'US-based company' story at 2334h last night they were sent a quick potted history of Bristow rescue 1950 to date.

Is cover for the east coast a bit thin?

A good win for Bristow. Heads rolled when they lost it to CHC. I must admit that I thought that there would be a Bond in the mix somewhere. They don't appear to be (I might be wrong) quite as successful as they used to be prior to being managed as a cog in the Avincis wheel??

But what about the 360° radar? No mention of lasers either...

Inverness is a fantastic outcome for MR. However, I think you're right. With my sea boots on it doesn't seem right. I shall be surprised if Inverness survives to 2023.

Thomas coupling,

"771NAS will still offer a menu of maritime activities."

Really? What with? ALL UK service sea Kings are being canned by 2016.

One thing that seems unclear about all this is just how out of the picture the military will be.

OK the Sea Kings are going but the RAF and Navy are not actually shutting up shop are they? They still fly the Merlin, Puma and Lynx for a start.


There will be lmited resources out there quite capable of stepping in to undertake a periphery role in SAR and there may still be a need for the military to have a need for rescuing their own pilots outside of UK airspace and SAR UK grew from their need to train up to do that operational role.....

Unless you have spotted an order for escort destoyers that the rest of us have missed, then yes, every Merlin has a winch and, as we have been told 345,750,044,581 times on pprune, pusser's pirates will always equip and train for SAR.

Have just seen a BBC news interview with Robert Fox who is the defence correspondent for the London Evening News. What an idiot. He is obviously being fed !!!!! from the military. He was going on about how this is highly dangerous because the quality of training is going to plummet and that Bristow has had "issues" with the level of service in the oil and gas sector. He was actually comparing Bristow with G4s security at the Olympics !!!

He totally ignored the fact that Bristow has been doing SAR for coming on 50 years and has the longest pedigree as a worldwide helicopter operator in the world.

He was also going on about the number of medals that military crews get for "daring rescues" totally ignoring awards that civilian SAR members have had over the years.

I will stop now otherwise my rant would go on for at least three more pages

Indeed. The recent GM going to last year's recipient of the Billy Deakin award!

Pity there is so much emphasis on Bristow being American - I'm sure AB is turning in his grave!

Gee....Crab will be wearing Ashes and rending his clothes over this!

We must get him counseling help to get him through this horrible crisis.

Anyone care to join in a Whip Round to fund the Professional help for him?

Bizarre, the comments about military training.

FBH - who are Bristow - already/currently train military SAR pilots and crew in the UK...the training will not change at all. And it will remain exemplary.

There is a bit of spinning going on above ground due to that change of ownership too....especially when some folks are reminded of that!

A great result all round really.
One of the best helicopter operators in the western world utilising one of the best choices of helicopter.
Bit of a hike if you want to visit the training centre though in Northern Scotland! What's the deal with Bristow's and Jim671 then? Did you rent out your garden to bulid the TRTO?
Brilliant news for Yeovil. The government and dare I say.....in the long run....the public.

I'll ring ST and make sure he has read your suggestion TC.

Can't stop. Working on my CV. :-)

Howard Wheeldon has been on BBC Online and presumably radio. Dreadful. I think he first heard of this contract over breakfast this morning so then he went on the BBC and pretty much slagged off Bristow because nobody in the defence club had got the contract. If by some irrational miracle, Lockheed or Elbit had got it, presumably overpaid defence 4r53l1ckers would be all over the airwaves telling us how wonderful privatised SAR was going to be.

Looked up Wheeldon. From his bio I dont think he's been near a live aircraft in his life.
How on earth the bbc can use an "expert" like this defeats me.

See the BBC is changing it's tune.

Bristow is now an "Aberdeen based company"

They'll have chosen a Jim Ferguson replacement on the basis that this one has had a haircut.