Civilian search and rescue service has busy baptism
Chris Hogan, 6th January 2016, Boat
This year will mark the tenth year since the announcement of the privatisation of the UK's search and rescue (SAR) service and the replacement actually got going in 2015. There always were significant worries from concerned parties about whether a private service would compare with a military one - where profit was not an issue - so how have the first nine months gone?
Image courtesy Yachting Monthly
The privatisation was announced in May 2006 with the main driver being to use private money to replace the iconic but ageing fleet of forty Westland Sea Kings used by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy to cover the UK. There have been civilian SAR services in the UK since the early 1960s when Bristow Helicopters started at Manston in Kent under contract to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
But there were still worries when the big change was announced with MPs worried that bases would close and the number of crews lowered to save costs, jeopardising lives.
Civilian SAR up and running
Be that as it may, the contract for the civilian service was awarded to Bristow and since April 2015 services have been phased in. Humberside and Inverness went live in April, Caernarfon in July, Lydd (Kent) in August, St Athan (Glamorgan) in October, Prestwick in December and Newquay is expected to be live by the time you're reading this article.
Newquay is in fact a bit of a sore point as the one base will cover the whole of the West Country with civilian and military services at Culdrose in Cornwall, Chivenor in North Devon and Portland in Dorset being replaced.
As of October 2015 the RAF has ceased SAR services and the Royal Navy will stop at some point this year.
Busy first six months
Bristow announced in October that the new SAR had responded to almost 400 calls in the first six months. As Bristow had already been running services at Stornoway and Sumburgh in northern Scotland under a temporary contract since 2012, the total number of tasks completed by Bristow was nearly 600.
The Inverness and Caernarfon bases have been the busiest but the figures haven't been split between inland and coastal rescues. So although it's not clear how many callouts have been for boats, Bristow said that the proximity of those two bases to the most significant mountain ranges in the UK meant that they were likely to be more focussed on inland cases.
New kit
The replacement helicopters - Sikorsky S-92s - are faster and more flexible than the Sea Kings and have advanced equipment such as night vision as standard. But there have been teething problems; for example in training it was discovered that the downdraft from the S92 is much stronger so rescuers have to wear goggles and ear muffs and be much more careful.
Many of the pilots and other crew members on the civilian SAR service have transitioned from the military as part of the phased takeover so essential rescue knowledge and skills have been retained.
What next?
A ten year contract has been awarded to Bristow so it remains to be seen whether the new service will compare to the previous, largely military service it replaces. If it will be anything like other privatisations the problems will come at the renewal stage.
If a rival outfit underbids to win the contract and then is unable to make the service pay, cuts will be inevitable. In the meantime let's hope that boat and yacht owners experience the same quality of helicopter SAR service that they have enjoyed for the last fifty to sixty years.
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