And spoke proper!

and Luftwaffe Crab - just don'tmention the w......

A broad church. And yes there are others.

I had the good fortune to sit down and talk air rescue with aircrew and rescuers from 7 of those countries a few weeks ago. There are many comparisons one could draw with SAR across the world. However, this corner of the North Atlantic is a small and varied and meteorologically turbulent place where the Icelanders and Irish and British and Norwegians play with their clunky big helicopters in a particular way. They are very good. They do not have many accidents. So it will continue.

Speaking of Bristows Plan B... Another new machine on the UK register.

Registration Details

Mark: G-CIJX
Current Reg. Date: 02/12/2014
Previous ID: NEW ITALY

Manufacturer: AGUSTAWESTLAND SPA
Type: AGUSTA AW139
Serial No.: 31579

Generic Name: AW139
Aircraft Class: HELICOPTER
EASA Category: CS-29: Large Rotorcraft
Engines: 2: 2 x PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA PT6C-67C

MTOW: 6800kg
Year Built: 2014

Registered Owners:
BRISTOW HELICOPTERS LTD
FORTIES ROAD
DYCE
ABERDEEN
AB21 0NT

Yep, good luck getting a stick of MRT in the back of that in Inversnekkie.......

I hate to agree with Crab but from that angle the undercarriage does look a bit puny but only time will tell. Landing at the bottom of Corrie an Lochain might test its resilience.

"I hate to agree with Crab but from that angle the undercarriage does look a bit puny but only time will tell. Landing at the bottom of Corrie an Lochain might test its resilience".

Well it isn't puny. It is a fairly solid piece of equipment.
Where there might well be a problem is that they are narrow high pressure (200psi) tyres not ideal on soft ground.
.

Never seen it up close but it just looks that way - must be the the thin wheels. I'm sure it will do the job just fine. I have seen all around the corries though so have a good idea about the punishment it will take.

that is exactly the problem - no ability to spread the weight on boggy, icy, sandy, shingly or pretty much any type of ground except a hard, compacted surface. Where you need the equivalent of a fat mountain-bike tyre, you have got the equivalent of a high-pressure racing road bike tyre. Even a double-bogey would have helped.

Interesting development here: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/ORS4No1070.pdf

Although they seem to miss out one essential stakeholder here:

What about those people being rescued?

Perhaps they're considered "directly involved in the SAR flight" and "necessary to carry for that purpose" :-)

You could interpret it that way, but that wording is more appropriate to specialists like MRT or dog handlers or medical staff I would have said.

...no camera crew then?

CAA authorised persons perhaps?

Well, that took a while.

Not sure how the casualties can be classed as CAA authorised persons since you don't know who they are or how many there are until you pick them up. Would have thought that CAA authorised persons would be their flight ops inspectors and the like.

What do the rules and regs say for Air Ambulance work?

I don't know what the fuss is about. It has been a CAA requirement for yonks that nobody be carried on a public transport winching detail except the crew, trainers/checkers and of course, the people being winched.

Except that the document linked in 212 man's post is about operating in reduced minima for VFR and special VFR flights - not winching.

BBC Scotland is carrying a story that the ARCC at Kinloss Barracks is to close although no date is given.


Although this has long been rumoured, still a sad day.


The functions of the ARCC in the future will be carried out from the National Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham. A steep learning curve for the Coastguard ....