As we used to say in the world of technical authorship, 'If all else fails, read the instructions'.

DfT contract spec for Lot 1:
"minimum rescue capacity per Aircraft of 8 Casualties/Survivors (2 of which are capable of being stretchered)"

Bristow SAR website, fleet section, Sikorsky S-92, stated capacity:
"21 persons as required – 3 stretchers, 10 seated persons, additional standing persons"

Bristow SAR website, fleet section, Sikorsky S-92 illustrations:
http://bristowsar.com/wp-content/upl...-survivors.jpg
http://bristowsar.com/wp-content/upl...figuration.jpg
http://bristowsar.com/wp-content/upl...ernal-view.jpg

Satsuma - you raise a point the airlines also struggle with. All airlines require the row of seats leading to the emergency exits to be clear of baggage, however should anyone seated in one of the (in economy) 3 seats be a large person who has become incapacitated then that emergency exit becomes blocked and unusable. We live in a world of compromise.

Maybe so, but at least that obstruction isn't designed in by the manufacturers.

I don't fancy the chances of anyone escaping from an uncontrolled ditching if they're in the rear half of that cabin. You can't expect multiple passengers to be simultaneously removing seats from their housing to facilitate their escape. That would be hard enough if it was warm, dry, the right way up and well lit. But it won't be, it'll be the opposite. They really need to address this with a seat re-design before tragedy strikes.

But how often are there going to be multiple passengers over the sea? As with the Sea King, the S-92s will spend most of their time with 4 crew on board and 1, maybe 2, casualties. And those casualties are rarely in a fit state to escape a ditching, however good the emergency exits are. The most common time that a SAR helicopter is full of pax (or should I say, non-aircrew folk) is when deploying MRT, which doesn't tend to happen over the water. Of course there are very occasional rig evacuations/whole ship's crew pick-ups, but these are the exception, not the norm - in stark contrast to the oil and gas aircraft. Does this mean that emergency exits being obstructed is ideal? Not at all, but let's not pretend this is a daily risk for the future SAR crews and their passengers.

Very good point TOTD.

Compare an RAF Sea King with non-crashworthy seating

http://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/1...bcdc1d49bd.jpg

to an (admittedly partially fitted out CHC) S-92 with crashworthy seats push out windows behind each seat etc

http://img8.custompublish.com/getfil...urn=www.acg.no

However, the S92 is lacking the f'ing big door that the Sea King has halfway along the pax compartment - even fat boys can get through that one;)

Seems to be a f'ing big door at the back that a Sea King didn't have......

Ah but how long does it take to open/jettison?

As long as it takes to turn a handle!:ugh:

An EASA approved emergency exit needs to be simple, obvious, unobstructed, not require exceptional effort to open and to have conspicuous markings for use in the daylight and dark. It is doubtful therefore that the S92 ramp upper door would fall into this category whereas the Sea King cabin door window might (were it in need of EASA approval). The main S92 ramp certainly cannot be considered an emergency exit due to its mode of operation.

So to summarise the last few humorous posts the Sea king is betterer (yes I did spell better like a 6 year old would in an argument) because it has a big door in the middle near all the seats (not that you can actually sit on the seats due to the role equipment). The S92 is not as good because it's big ramp door is not an emergency exit (nor is the sea kings but let's not let facts get in the way). Priceless discussion going on here 😜

Most of them have probably never seen an S-92.

Well, just for them ...




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tonn...yer_detailpage

One thing that surprised me about that video was them tossing the winchman out at anout 100 ft.. I can appreciate the downwash being to strong to hover at 20ft or so but we had the same problem with the Puma. What we did was to approach at the normal low winching height, toss out the winchman and we would climb as the W/O kept him at the same height over the sea. We would then arrive at about 80 ft or so. After the pickup we would pull them up 20 ft. and descend as the W/O winched them in. I believe that a similar procedure was use for a cliff rescue.

It's all to guard against a cable breaking with somebody on it. I thought for a moment that with a dual winch you had a main and backup cable but it didn't look as if there was more than one. I can only assume that there is an awful lot of trust in the winch cable.

Not that I should worry too much, I'm not in the game anymore.

That is the SOP; I guess it just appears that they are higher than they actually are. 40' is standard height for deploying the winchman.

...or the Rad Alt is playing up

I was comparing the height above the sea with the rotor diameter of 56 ft. It looked nearly two rotor diameters clear.

I can see your PoV however, I would be very surprised if it were >40'. They are pretty anal about it, sometimes it can be a bit frustrating. Operationally it is different; if the winchman needs to go out at 3500', then so be it. Like most things nowadays, we are all becoming too risk averse.

With regards to the dual hoist; on the S92 you have an inboard and outboard hoist. On the AW139 (not sure about 189) you have a fore and aft mounted hoist. The are identical hoists, but are not /cannot be operated simultaneously. If one hoist were to fail (not cable snap) with, for instance 250' of cable out, the winchop attaches the serviceable hoist to the u/s cable via a karabina, and winches out delivering the 'S' hook to the winchman, who then connects himself to the new hook, unhooks from the other and is recovered to the a/c. The other cable is then either jettisoned or recover by hand to the a/c.
This is basic HHCO, hook hoist changeover, and would be carried out if after considering whether it would be prudent to return the winch man on a fixed cable to the deck or cliff etc, where they have just come from.
Hope I'm not teaching you to suck eggs - no offence intended.