Lee-on-Solent has worked without a ATC let down for the last 25 years

P3 Bellows


It wasn't a point for debate, merely a statement of fact.

Bidders were required to nominate locations in the vicinity of current SAR flights such as Wattisham but alternative locations were acceptable to the DfT if bidders could demonstrate no overall increase in average response times to incidents throughout the UK.


Bidders had to reach all very high and high risk areas and 75% of the medium risk areas (as defined by the UK SAR Region risk profile map) within 60 minutes of take-off. The DfT used a complex 'Vicinity Tool' to verify evidence for alternate locations.


One has to assume that by moving from Manston to Lydd, Bristow are still able to achieve this, otherwise they would be in breach of the tender requirements.

And that '60 min after take-off' was where the fudge that allowed a 10-base solution came in.

The criteria should have been 60 min after being scrambled which would have been much more realistic and acceptable.

We always aimed to be airborne inside the RS (15 0800 to 2200 and 45 2200 to 0800) but those Dft figures allow up to 45 mins after scramble and then 60 mins airborne (at 140 to 150 kts) which means that in some areas, the casualties will be waiting for a long, long time before they get their helo.

When everyone saw the 60 minute criteria, they all assumed it was 60 mins from call to arrival and that allowed the 'fudge' to be accepted.

Sadly, members of the RAF helped do this to ourselves = lies, damn lies and statistics.

Vicinity model or no vicinity model, a six year old child could look at the map of the new SAR locations and tell you it was seriously imbalanced. Where once the North Sea coast was covered by the likes of Manston, Coltishall, Leconfield, Leuchars and Boulmer, according to the vicinity model these lighting quick new aircraft can now cover the whole lot from Humberside. Do be serious DfT.

To be fair Vie, that six year old probably hasn't looked at the risk level map. This is the first entirely planned such service and the DASA stats for current east coast bases tell their own story. However, I accept Crab's analysis of the timing fudge and a 150 knot aircraft doesn't do 150 when hover taxiing through the snow. Lydd does seem like a step too far.

Has Lydd been named, apart from on here as the alternative? Southend would not be out of the frame, though I can see that to have one on the Dover narrows isn't a bad idea.

The basing solution is indeed starting to look very sketchy for the east coast.

As a wider issue, however, I would suggest that the basing solution has always been a complete fudge. I think that the concept of using historical job data was a flawed concept from the start. Helicopter SAR bases will always create their own little hot spots in the local area. Who else remembers Leuchars closing as a SAR Flight? There was much grinding of teeth about 'who will do all those jobs in the Firth of Forth now as Lossie, Boulmer and Prestwick will take too long to get there?'. Well, how many jobs get done by helicopters in the Firth of Forth nowadays in comparison to when Leuchars was there? Not many.

I raised this with the female civil servant who was running the SARH competition (I can't recall her name nowadays) and she was unwilling or unable to grasp the point; the concept of using historical data was clearly ingrained in the process.

The opportunity to start with a fresh sheet of paper and create an innovative and effective basing solution was lost many years ago, and the birds are now coming home to roost on this issue.

The Leuchars point makes some sense but beyond that the whole east coast picture is substantially different from the west and the MoD-DASA stats show this quite clearly. Add to this the greater extent of SRR westward and workload differences and the greater number of S-92 on the west is explained. Lossie bucks the trend but if there had been NVIS a/c on a contract with proper land SAR requirements at Stornoway and Sumburgh then Lossie would probably fit the pattern too.


Lochaber and Lakes hotspots are real and significantly distant from bases. Presumably, we will see if self-generated hotspots really exist when Portland shuts.

Is Manston really no longer an option? Lee is shut as a commercial airfield but still operates the SAR (and other flying machines). Portland is similar. Surely all Bristow need is the hangar and office space they were planning on building anyway, a fuel supply and a piece of tarmac. Is that not still possible in the future Manston housing estate plan (apart of course from the NIMBYs who will move in and then complain about the noise!)

Perhaps if it does move to Lydd then Lee could shut and keep Portland...:E

Bristow require security at MAIN contract bases that was not required as a result of requirements of previous contracts. Secure airside locations are likely to make this easier than some more relaxed sites.

AW189 now carrying a British reg:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7579/...6f9066_c_d.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7553/...39da66_c_d.jpg

East coast SAR provision was a result of the Cold War requirement to cover the North Sea. Another example of a SAR unit hotspot moving occurred when the Manston flight moved to Wattisham.

Perhaps the first time that 'Wattisham' and 'SAR hotspot' have featured in the same sentence...

Do remember that whilst Wattisham is one of the quieter units, it is the centre of HAS winching excellence!

Yes, lots of wincing goes on at Wattisham;)

That may be the case and it could be argued that those flights I listed before were a touch of overkill. However, what they did provide was back-up for each other to provide full and continuous SAR coverage for an infamous sea that has seen countless people rescued from its unforgiving waters over the years.

What happens when Humberside go u/s in the new plan? Let's look at a couple of standard North Sea jobs - assume 15 minutes to be scrambled and get airborne on top of what's calculated below and also assume 140 kts airspeed and still wind.

Fishing boat taking on water at Dogger Bank N55 00 00 E003 00 00

Humberside would take 1 hour 5 mins to get there. But they're u/s, so who else have we got?

Lydd - 1 hour 49, Prestwick 1 hour 52, Inverness 2 hours - assuming they can fly in a straight line. Those are not great response times.

How about Man Overboard from a Rig Support Vessel? N57 00 00 E001 30 00 - same conditions as before.

Humberside would take 1 hour 19 to get there, but they're u/s. That leaves Prestwick 1 hour 36 and Inverness 1 hour 35 - again, if they can get there in a straight line. Before you ask, Boulmer would, at 115kts, be there in 1 hour 12.

Now let's look at the English Channel. A boat has hit the rocks off Alderney - that's about as far away as I could plot a position before it was in French territory.

Same conditions as above - 140kts, still air.

Lee-on-Solent would be there in 33 minutes, but they're u/s. So who else can help?

St. Athan would take 48 minutes, Newquay 50 minutes and Lydd 1 hour 01. Compare these times to the North Sea times above.

It took me about half an hour to do that maths. How come the DfT haven't figured out that there's a gigantic imbalance in the planned SAR coverage in the UK? They need to do something about it before it's too late. The North Sea does not give second chances.

Maybe DfT were assuming that son of JIGSAW could take up some of the North Sea tasking...

That might be the case.

there are a significant number of people involved in offshore oil and wind on the east coast and the only government provision is this one.

Add in the North Sea ferries and commercial shipping and there is a sizeable population who may need to odd bit of help.

But has BP not decided to canx Jigsaw from 2016?

😣 :ugh: