Some action from Barrafundle Bay, South Wales last weekend. As far as we could make out, one of a party of kayakers had some sort of medical problem(the group had an empty kayak when they came past later). The lifeboat turned up and took them on board, and then the helo arrived about 15 mins later.

Down came the winchman, followed by a stretcher. He was obviously rather busy as the helo landed on Stackpole Head for about 20/25 minutes. They then went way out to sea for the pickup. Something to watch as we had lunch.

Any follow up would be appreciated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awLo...ature=youtu.be

UK SRR still an obligation on the UK government.

It is Jim but they have farmed it out to the private sector. Would seem strange to have a split service. If the helos require top cover then it would seem natural that the SAR provider makes provision. A Jetstream ain't going to cut it though as the S92 is only marginally slower!

Search And Rescue is a team activity. For those who do not get it, here are details of an example.

In April 1995, a spanish fisherman onboard the Moraime, 200 miles west of Benbecula, developed a perforated ulcer and had to be evacuated by helicopter.

A Sikorsky S-61N operated by Bristow on behalf of HM Coastguard left its base in Stornoway to undertake this task at the limits of its radius of action. The four man crew were accompanied by a local doctor. The aircraft refuelled at Ballivanich on Benbecula before heading out to sea.

Top-cover was provided by a Nimrod of the Royal Air Force. Language difficulties caused problems, so a comms link was established with a language teacher from the Nicolson Institute, Stornoway's secondary school.

Attempts to put the winchman onboard in violent seas meant the aircraft had return to Ballivanich for more fuel.

Upon returning to the scene, the third attempt resulted in the winchman having to be rescued from the water himself. He was subsequently winched onboard the trawler and recovered the casualty to the helicopter. The casualty was then flown to the Western Isles Hospital for treatment.


HM Coastguard
ARCC
Bristow Helicopters Ltd
Doctor
Nimrod MPA from RAF Kinloss
Teacher from the Nicolson
Airport services at Ballivanich
Western Isles Hospital

Teamwork

Constant Endeavour

On a slightly different note, great do in Manchester over the weekend....

That it was:ok: Head still a bit groggy:)

AW189

CAA Register
G-MCGM - BHL (First aircraft. Milan-built. Others all Yeovil, so far.)
G-MCGN - BHL
G-MCGO - AW
G-MCGP - BHL
G-MCGR - AW
G-MCGS - BHL
G-MCGT - AW
Four other aircraft expected to be built. The current production status not known.

Bristow Group has put aside $115million for AW189 SAR in 4 tranches of 2 from June 2016 (in progress?) to March 2018.

The planned order of deployment has changed a couple of times and currently is expected to be as follows.

- Lee-on-Solent (fixed at April 2017, taking over from CHC)
- Prestwick
- Lydd
- St Athans
- Inverness

Aircraft will be turning up at Lee and Prestwick during the early part of 2017 for local training and early engagement with stakeholders. (Most of the 7000 or so local volunteers and part-timers engaged in SAR currently have no idea that people make helicopters that you can't stand up in! :rolleyes:)

ARCC

Positive things are being said about ARCC Fareham by both aircrew and mountain rescuers. :ok:

GAP SAR

This contract ends next year and thus Portland will close and Lee will get the AW189. Sumburgh and Stornoway change to the MAIN contract. Some tears, some smiles.

Won't all these delays and all the extra training swapping types be costing Bristows a great deal of money?

Is any of that cost being passed on to the taxpayer?

Are there any contract penalties for not meeting the contract spec for over a year?

Good to see some positives.

Interesting first post RT. :rolleyes: Welcome to the dangerous world of posting on pprune. :E

Yes.


You might need to examine the relationship between HM Gov and Leonardo to get the full picture on that subject. Guess who wanted a British-built aircraft? Westland Affair Mk XIII? :ugh:


The contract spec is met at Inverness and Prestwick since the S-92A meets the Lot 2 spec (for simplicity, though it is actually a Lot 3 contract). The problem is that at Lydd and St Athans you have aircraft that are too small to meet the Lot 2 spec. Penalties are expected to be applied.

Lydd and St Athans were to get early deployment of the AW189. Prestwick is now moved up the list and will be the first base after Lee-on-Solent to get the new aircraft. (Because it involves a change-over from the GAP-South contract with CHC, the Lee date is fixed.) Getting Lydd and St Athans changed would have brought penalties to a halt as early as possible as well as working-up AW189 SAR experience in a more benign environment. One might speculate that whoever has arranged for Prestwick to move up will pay a price for that change.

Re: military involvement in SAR.

It still happens informally.

There have been a couple of occasions in the past year where an RAF Sentry has helped a lifeboat out with comms.

IT seems they regularly monitor Ch16.

So who's been flying an AW189 at St Athans yesterday? Transition aircrew? Lee-on-Solent aircrew? :cool:

Rho,

In terms of if the cost is being passed on to the taxpayer, yes of course it is. The taxpayer is footing the bill for the whole shooting match, not just the type ratings. The wise SAR Team at BRS have no doubt costed this well, check the quarterly filing from last week, BRS claim they are doing very well indeed out of UK SAR. (Imagine how bad their results would be without it!)...

Jim raises an interesting perspective about HMG involvement in the ac types. With the withdrawal of the WAH64 and replacement with genuine Boeing AH64 in the future for the Army, AW/ Leonardo have effectively been significantly downsized in HMG Military procurement in the UK (Wildcat and derivatives and Merlin left). I'd expect HMG to throw them a bone somewhere in future ac purchasing requirements if they can in order to keep the factory open. Quite which ac need replacing with Leonardo products I have no idea.

Bristow Group's latest numbers were released about 3 weeks ago and make interesting reading. These guys have seen big changes in the last 2 years and taken some big hits but they are not going broke. Several things are on a gentle slide that could have been a major avalanche if not controlled. There has clearly been careful attention to management of the leased fleet and the pressures caused by the 225 situation. The people at the sharp end will know that there has been some sharpening of pencils at both ends and writing on both sides of the paper. :rolleyes:

Six months ago they were telling of UK SAR being 11% of revenue in fin year 2016. That seems to be happening. The numbers are expected to rise about 12% in fin year 2017 though I don't see it presented as a percentage revenue figure this time. Though they are still very heavily reliant on oil and gas, UK SAR will be a big slice and not something they can be complacent about.

If I were Bristow, I'd be all over the DfT and Leonardo like an itchy rash, squeezing out every last available penny. Oh heavens, I can hear the scratching from here. :E

I think I mentioned Westland Affair Mk XIII previously. :ugh:

One thing that changes in the latest Bristow numbers is the schedule of money for buying 189s. One aircraft is shifted out to the end (3 a/c in March 2018). This makes perfect sense since that will be the 11th, training, aircraft for Inverness. September's money for 2 a/c now delays until December 2016. This too makes some sense since they were going to end up having paid for a lot of aircraft that would not be deployed for a long time. They will end up with 6 a/c shortly as they start the programme, whittled down to 4 then 2 then zero by the time they have done St Athans (?). They then pay for the last 3 aircraft as they get ready to roll out 189 at Inverness. But by that time they know how to do it. :ok:

nowherespecial - this is what I can't make sense of - if a contract is awarded at a specified price based on specific aircraft and the contractor doesn't provide those aircraft; first there have to be penalty clauses for failing to deliver the spec on time and second, any extra cost in training and retraining has to be met by the contractor, not the taxpayer.

if there was sufficient fat in the contract to allow the contractor to spend all that extra money and still make a profit, then surely DfT was seen off and managed the whole competition process poorly?

I get that Leonardos might be liable for some of the costs since the aircraft was late into service but again, this is between contractor and sub-contractor isn't it?

The government wanted to turn Westland (Leonardo at Yeovil) into a proper commercial helicopter manufacturer instead of a drain on the defence budget. To do that they applied some pressure so that a British-built aircraft (AW189 SAR) would be selected for use on this contract. This required Leonardo to step up big-style, since you often don't get away with this with a brand new type, and there was already a bit of a history from 2007 with its little brother the AW139 taking time to sort out for SAR.

Leonardo didn't step up. The aircraft is essentially a good one but the SAR role fit was a bit of a dog's breakfast. To make matters worse, Bristow didn't have a contract ready to sign with Leonardo at the time of contract award and took 4 months to sort that out. Then there are some questions about how technically able and commercially agile Bristow were in the management of their supplier, Leonardo.

It is Leonardo who are paying most or all of the big bills here. It's probably costing Bristow a bit. It's probably costing the DfT a bit. It is costing Leonardo a fortune.

In amongst this, somebody else comes along, gets another (smaller) government contract for using the AW189 for SAR, orders aircraft, has them built in ITALY, uses the Bristow situation as a big stick to beat Leonardo with, gets a slightly different SAR role fit, gets their aircrew sorted out, and from a standing start puts the first two AW189 SAR aircraft into service before Bristow (over seven thousand miles from home).

Overall, the government has tried to save a lame duck but ended up breaking its other leg as well.


Soap opera.

This comedy with Leonardos seems to have been going on for many years and it always appears to be the customer (and the taxpayer) who suffers.

Didn't the RAF get stiffed with the Merlin because the order for the Navy was too small and haven't the Army now been double-stiffed with the Wildcat since again the Navy order was too small?

I have been told that Westlands were a drain on the taxpayers even back in the 80s and the MoDs whole procurement policy was skewed in favour of keeping them going.

The truth is that the Westland story is repeated around the world wherever you have a significant helicopter manufacturer.

You just need to look at the American fiasco with the presidential helicopter replacement.


(NOTE. Yeovil is a traditionally Conservative parliamentary seat that is in danger of again falling to the LibDems.)

Inverness-based Coastguard crews reach 500 missions Inverness-based Coastguard crews reach 500 missions - BBC News

You can get more detail here.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collec...ter-statistics

A new species photographed in wild for perhaps the first time.

https://twitter.com/glendog74/status/794575815384174592

Ground clearance?

Yes. There is some.

Although the S-92 at first appears to have greater ground clearance than this, it does in fact have far too many expensive toys very very near the rocks. I wouldn't like to say which one wins the ground clearance competition without some careful measurement at a range of loads. :8

Ground clearance is a matter that I and many others have mentioned repeatedly over the last few years. :ugh: :ugh: :ugh:

Unfortunately, manufacturers want their aircraft quite close to the ground for a number of reasons. Though SAR is a good reputational boost, their first thought is probably about how to get lots of rich fat barstewards up into the aircraft without bursting a blood vessel. :E

Now here's a thought. :8

It will be summer 2018 before implementation is complete (AW189 operational at Inverness). The original programme, way back at the start of this, had a transition-out for Lot 2 (AW189 bases) starting at Inverness on 31 March 2023.

So the public part of original bid process for the current contract started in November 2011, award was March 2013, and commencement of service April 2015.

NRP10045 UK SAR Schedule 2.5 - Transition and Acceptance shows the following timetable for lot 2 bases.

Inverness - March 2023
Lydd - June 2023
StAthans - Sept 2023
Prestwick - Dec 2024 - oops!? :ugh:
Lee - March 2024

Is that a misprint for Prestwick? A bit more job security for the lads! :E

If the contract process goes as before it should go public in November 2019. The DfT hardly has time to draw breath after the AW189 is fully in service before it is time to think about a new contract. :rolleyes:

There is provision for an extension of up to two years.

NRP10045 UK SARH General Conditions of Contract, at section 2.2, reads as follows.

"The Department may extend the duration of this Contract for any period and for any combination
of Bases for up to a further twenty four (24) Months from any Expiry Date. The Department shall
exercise this option, for each Base, no later than six (6) Months prior to each Expiry Date."

My guess is that they will extend. If they extended Lot 2 by two years and Lot 1 by one year then they would have a continuous transition programme from 1st April 2025 to 1st April 2027.


Thoughts?


Rumours?


Do you think it might be a good idea to mention search dogs in the contract this time? :ugh: :ugh: :ugh:

Anyone know why they flew AW189 SAR G-MCGO to Chertsey and down the Thames as far as Dartford on Tuesday?



(G-MCGO is believed to doing work-up in prep for commencement of service at Lee-on-Solent in April along with G-MCGS.)

A quick jolly before lunch.

Training with Thames CG??

Seen a few helicopters in hotel car parks at lunchtime over the years. Usually yellow. Must my eyes deceiving me, eh Crab? London airspace not 'off the radar' figuratively and literally though. But no, not a jolly.

Nothing wrong with doing some training and having lunch away from base. Just a bit awkward if you get called out just as food is being served though:)

AW189 - STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
 

G-MCGS took a break from Lee-on-Solent work-up at the weekend to come and show Scottish Mountain Rescue the new era part 2. It made an impressive entrance at a not very rotorcraft-friendly Birnam.

It also visited Dalcross on Sunday where it was seen by more SMR and SCRO folks. I had a bit of hands-on geekery with its fancy toys.

Nice cab. Really looking forward to seeing what it can do at the back of a gnarly corrie on a stormy night.

Any news on how the AW189 is getting on at Lee On Solent? Understand it came on line 1 Apr.

It went out and did the job an hour after coming on shift.

Not heard any specifics but then I am not as plugged in to the maritime rumour mill as the rocky stuff.


What concerns most now is when are we going to see an aircraft up at Prestwick?


BHL have accepted GO, GR and GT in recent months and GU and GV are now on the register, though not seen in the wild.

AW189 G-MCGT left Lee-on-Solent first thing this morning and arrived at Prestwick to start a two month work-up this afternoon.

GT and a second aircraft are due to commence service from Prestwick on the 1st July. This will release two S-92 (GG & GL) for service at Stornoway where they will replace aircraft with the Gap contract spec.

The Gap contract (2013-2017) ends on the 30th June and includes the permanent end of service at Portland.

Great effort by whichever flight rescued the missing surfer off Macrahanish:ok:

Would be interesting to know if it was a visual spot or FLIR.

I had a similar last light spot of a missing person in an inflatable dinghy with an electric motor in Cyprus back in the 80s but he hadn't been out for anything like as long as the chap on the surfboard.:ok:

Mark One Eyeball by the look of it.


Interview with Captain shown in Telegraph online report.

Well done Andy and crew:ok:

Well done all at Pretwick - nice one :ok:

Well done to the Prestwick crew.

Some appreciation should also be given to the Coastguard Officers at Belfast who developed the apparently successful search plan that placed the UK Coastguard SAR helicopter into an area in which the Mk I eyeball became effective.

Given the number of known unknowns and the possibility of an unknown unknown, the Coastguard Officers at Belfast, or whoever was search planning for them, deserve a pat on the back. They were either highly competent or blessed with good fortune - possibly both. Good result in any case.

Look forward to hearing the survivor's story.

True Bluenose and the lifeboat crews and coastguard teams around the coast.

Nice to share in some happy news on pprune.

Well covered in the TV News on most channels here in Victoria: including the interview with Andy :ok: