Probably missed a huge thread on this already, but read this today:

Privatising Search and Rescue Guardian

Sounds like a terrible idea to me. Anyone know of any organised pressure being applied?

Thanks

No, but their ought to be!

In before E-Petition.

Its the latest in a long line of ridiculous ideas from these idiots. Probably cooked up in Stewarts dream yurt

As with all government projects/privatisation, it all depends on how well the contract is written. Private rescue organisations are used and work effectively in other countries, so that’s not to say they can’t work well here, if implemented properly.

It is also worth noting that the purpose of the RAF SAR is to rescue downed aircrew, not civilians, this is simply done as they are the best placed to do it, however if a pilot bangs out somewhere that will be the priority. Military craft also have much higher standards with regards to mechanical operating and maintenance and as such can often be unavailable (I was on exercise with a MR team and we were due heli training but the SeaKing couldn’t attend due to a possible fault relating to military electronics – nothing to do with actual operational efficiency of the craft in civilian SAR).

As has been noted though, I’m unsure how the willingness and the skill levels of a civilian team would perform, the ability of the military SAR crews is just downright gobsmacking.

I think in an ideal world it would be good to see the RAF essentially ‘paid’ to provide a dedicated civilian SAR service, both providing SAR capabilities for civilians whilst also giving them valuable training.

Time will tell.

It is also worth noting that the purpose of the RAF SAR is to rescue downed aircrew, not civilians, this is simply done as they are the best placed to do it,

Civilian rescue call outs also provide realistic training for the military call outs. Once SAR is privatised one of two things will happen, either military SAR standards will fall, or they will be flying hundreds of training hours which could have instead been done in mountain and coastal rescue call outs. In the second case the taxpayer will be paying twice – once for the new private service and twice for the hundreds/thousands of training hours now needed to maintain pilot and crew skills.

I think in an ideal world it would be good to see the RAF essentially ‘paid’ to provide a dedicated civilian SAR service

Which is basically the current position albeit the taxpayer doesn’t seperate the costs out. The Sea Kings are dual military/civvy use. Why someone thinks having 2 fleets of SAR helicopters rather than one is a good idea I don’t know.

See what’s happened to the police helicopters and fear the same. Fewer, further apart, shorter endurance on location…

There’s a lot of good info on this over on UKC from a bunch of MR guys. However as I understand it the sea king fleet is on it’s last legs. The UK govt. can’t afford to replace it. Secondly there are international maritime treaty responsibilities that have to be kept. This is actually the service that is being privatised. MR is being lumped in with this. Thirdly all of the companies bidding operate in this way in other jurisdictions and all will have ex military pilots flying these rescues so the idea the service will be inferior because of the pilots they’re using isn’t as relevant as people think. Finally the military’s requirement for SAR, and the practice that goes with it, is way below what they’re currently providing so the idea that 2 identical services will be required thus doubling the cost isn’t really true.

Though with all things like this as has been pointed out above ultimately the quality of service provided will come down to how well or badly the contracts are written.