tonyot Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Hiya Folks, Has 771 NAS disbanded now that the SAR tasking has been civilianised or is it still operating as a Sea King conversion unit and general duties unit? I hope that it is still operational! Cheers Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Hello Tony, I think it will be disbanded in January 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evalman Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I believe they hand over to Bristows on the 31st December, but 771 is not due to disband until March 2016. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I've just asked my son who is stationed at Culdrose. He will find out tomorrow for sure (if he remembers) Joe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted November 16, 2015 Author Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) Hello Tony, I think it will be disbanded in January 2016 Thanks for that,.....what a shame but I thought that it wouldn`t survive. I was hoping that it might live on as a Sea King conversion unit for the Baggy and those Junglie units still flying the Sea King HC.4, especially while the latter wind down and convert onto Merlin. Cheers Tony. PS- Sorry the extra replies came in while I was typing,.....cheers for the additional info Evalman and I appreciate you asking your lad Joe PPS- I wonder if the RAF`s 22 & 202 Sqn`s will ever be reformed at some stage in a different role? Its a shame that the ex naval 200 series sqns are almost gone now. Edited November 16, 2015 by tonyot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 It's such a shame to loose all that skill and experience. I was lucky enough to get a flight with them earlier this year at their Families Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 It's such a shame to loose all that skill and experience. Especially if we should need SAR pilots to go in harm's way in future (not that SAR isn't hairy enough in peacetime). 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Foster60 Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Yet another valuble capability going. Knowning the price of everything and the value of nothing bean counters strike again. Nigel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inverted Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Yes it's an end of an era, but I think you might want to think about the crews who will be flying civilian SAR before commenting. They are fantastically skilled aircrew, of whom many are ex military anyhow. The new machines, are by far a superior airframe, which to date, hasn't yet been proven to the degree the mighty seaking was, but they will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Foster60 Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Will 'they' go in harms way under fire if so asked / ordered? I would always have wanted to be on the Queens shilling. End of an era, start of an error I say! Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 I believe they hand over to Bristows on the 31st December, but 771 is not due to disband until March 2016.Evalman got it bang on. I was wrong with the January date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truro Model Builder Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Will 'they' go in harms way under fire if so asked / ordered? As civilians employed by a civilian company, flying a civilian helicopter under the direction of a civilian organisation, I don't expect the situation is ever likely to arise. And as they are operating in the UK, if they have to go anywhere under fire, all bets are off and we're all in the brown stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evalman Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 A few months ago 771 were interviewed on BBC Radio Cornwall, they said that the FAA will still train for, and retain a SAR capability after they had handed over to the new Civilian operators. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Nigel, The new SAR does not and will not have the remit to go in harm's way and in the UK it's not going to happen. As for 771 ( the inferior SAR,obs 772 was better!!!)it will carry on till march next year. By the way we still have yellow fleet in the Falklands till next year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted November 19, 2015 Author Share Posted November 19, 2015 Cheers for that, I was wondering what was going to happen in the Falklands when it came to SAR as it didn`t seem to be economic to retain SAR Sea Kings down south for long after they were withdrawn in the UK. I didn`t know whether Bristow`s were taking over or whether the RAF would deploy something like a Puma or two to maintain cover instead. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent K Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 (edited) Yes it's an end of an era, but I think you might want to think about the crews who will be flying civilian SAR before commenting. They are fantastically skilled aircrew, of whom many are ex military anyhow. The new machines, are by far a superior airframe, which to date, hasn't yet been proven to the degree the mighty seaking was, but they will. Problem is that as soon as the flow of ex military SAR crew dries up the contract gets a whole load more expensive on renewal as they will need to fund and/or train crews, which for the current incumbents has all been done by the military. This is the kind of flaw I see in these PFI and similar type contracts. Edited November 19, 2015 by Agent K 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Nigel, The new SAR does not and will not have the remit to go in harm's way and in the UK it's not going to happen. As for 771 ( the inferior SAR,obs 772 was better!!!)it will carry on till march next year. By the way we still have yellow fleet in the Falklands till next year. The latest edition of Air Forces Monthly contains an article on 845 NAS' Merlin HC3 helicopters training in California which refers to the aircraft being used to perform Joint Personnel Recovery (UK parlance for Combat Search And Rescue) operations so UK forces will still have a CSAR capability. Problem is that as soon as the flow of ex military SAR crew dries up the contract gets a whole load more expensive on renewal as they will need to fund and/or train crews, which for the current incumbents has all been done by the military. This is the kind of flaw I see in these PFI and similar type contracts. Very good point well made - I suppose by extension the Police and Air Ambulance providers may face a similar challenge in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truro Model Builder Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Not so much; although pilots and groundcrew are provided by the helicopter operating company, police and ambulance helicopters are crewed primarily by staff employed directly by the police or health authority (police officers, paramedics, doctors etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truro Model Builder Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 A lot are, but not all. And you don't need a SAR background to fly police or ambulance helicopters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 Indeed not - I think I read somewhere (possibly on PPrune) that Police and Air Ambulance tends to attract more Army pilots than RAF and RN.... I think you may be correct - Police and Air Ambulance operations probably require a slightly different skill set, for instance operating from confined areas, which would not necessarily be covered during civilian helicopter training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Foster60 Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 My original comments were in no way intended to slight the civilian SAR crews of whom a lot are ex military and who do a fine job. However those who know anything about the military and UK military in particular they are more flexable, deployable and more capable than any civilian contract, the contract is the issue, not the men and women, who are all I am sure dedicated. Military SAR originally came out of the need created during the BoB to rescue pilots from the English Channel. In harms way, only as it developed during the 50's and 60's did it move towards serving mainly civil needs. There are two main issues; If the military do not train them to the high standards that they do, who will in future, where will the next generation come from? If there is ever need of the original requirement, the military will not be as practiced, the civilians will not be contractuallly obliged to go in harms way. I would be interested to know what the civilian contract says about participation in a terrorist incident, With the RN and RAF we were sure. That is today, not some future maybe. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now