SAR Sea King callsign

[EGDR]

Is it correct that the 771 Sea Kings use a Navy 193 callsign when on training missions and Rescue 193 when on shouts? I have heard that somewhere and would like some confirmation

[Red Hound]

Yes Rescue is only used when on a rescue mission. I assume the logic is that it points them out to ATC and they are given priority.

[EGDR]

Thanks for the confirmation, that does makes sense. Always nice to know whether they are on a shout when I see them on pp

[buzzer]

Is it correct that the 771 Sea Kings use a Navy 193 callsign when on training missions and Rescue 193 when on shouts? I have heard that somewhere and would like some confirmation

Yeap.. that's right. The duty cab that's on SAR stand by. Uses the above callsigns as you say. All other 771 cabs on standard crew training flights use the sierra callsign with there airframe code as there individual callsign.
I.e. Sierra 28..etc.
Hope that helps.

[cloudhawk]

At Chivenor the 2 SAR Sea Kings use "SRG 169" & "SRG 170" , "169" being the duty a/c , both prefixed with the "Rescue" when on a shout as per 771Sqdn.
Cloudhawk

[Aircraftpaulcornwall]

Hi Kyle (and everyone),
I have noted in the past that Culdrose SAR Sea Kings are quoted as 'Rescue 192' and 'Rescue 193' - I presume that these callsigns are attributed to which ever individual Sea King has been tasked to the Rescue situation in question!! --Paul

[Biffodog]

Each SAR base is allocated two callsigns and should have a spare aircraft available should the duty cab go u/s. However, there is no longer a standby crew though - european working time directives put paid to that - so the second callsign is rarely used, unless something major happens, e.g. Boscastle, when you find a second crew if you can.

[Red Hound]

Each SAR base is allocated two callsigns and should have a spare aircraft available should the duty cab go u/s. However, there is no longer a standby crew though - european working time directives put paid to that - so the second callsign is rarely used, unless something major happens, e.g. Boscastle, when you find a second crew if you can.

In the case of Boscastle I believe 7 helicopters were involved from 3 bases, 4 from Culdrose, 2 from Chivenor & the Coastguard S-61 from Portland.

[RichC]

That's slightly incorrect.
SAR Assets came from Culdrose, St Mawgan, Chivenor and Portland. Eight Helicopters were involved of which seven were military.
St Mawgan, back then, was the SKTU and SRG41-49 were the callsigns. (Or RESCUE 41-49). I believe the St Mawgan example was Rescue 44? I can't remember without finding my logs.

Rescue 193 was first on scene of which relayed to Kinloss Rescue on HF to get every air asset available to the scene ASAP.

Culdrose (3)
St Mawgan (1)
Chivenor (2)
Portland (1)
Cornwall Air Ambulance (1)

I believe there was a Chinook and/or Puma available (Part of the National Emergency standby) but were not, at the time, needed.

[Red Hound]

Thanks for the correction. I wasn't 100% sure of the facts but I thought it worth mentioning that 7 rescue helicopters were involved rather than two implied in the previous post. One of the reasons for the quantity of aerial footage being available was the BBC series Seaside Rescue, which had a cameraman on board the helicopter from Portland.

[buzzer]

That's slightly incorrect.
SAR Assets came from Culdrose, St Mawgan, Chivenor and Portland. Eight Helicopters were involved of which seven were military.
St Mawgan, back then, was the SKTU and SRG41-49 were the callsigns. (Or RESCUE 41-49). I believe the St Mawgan example was Rescue 44? I can't remember without finding my logs.

Rescue 193 was first on scene of which relayed to Kinloss Rescue on HF to get every air asset available to the scene ASAP.

Culdrose (3)
St Mawgan (1)
Chivenor (2)
Portland (1)
Cornwall Air Ambulance (1)

I believe there was a Chinook and/or Puma available (Part of the National Emergency standby) but were not, at the time, needed.

I remember it well Rich. I(and probably like you??) Were monitoring it all on HF,and what little bit I could hear with Falmouth coast guard on
Vhf aswell. Made for a couple of hours of the best HF listing I have ever heard.
Remember hearing the tone of the crew member of rescue 193 telling kinloss to get ever airborne asset available on scene!!! "We have a mayor incident here!!"
Also remember at one point a nimrod was talked about being top cover as a coms relay station.As communication was becoming a problem with Falmouth,kinloss and the choppers working down in the valley!!!But Portlands CG S-61 ended up relaying most of the message,as he was last on scene .....or was it the 3rd culdrose cab ??? I can't remember
Definitely a day to remember,and has been shown in the media many time since then...a time when the rescue boys(and girls)provide there worth.

[RichC]

Yes, indeed, i was monitoring it all. The S61N came overhead my location enroute and was shifting to say the least.
Some of the helos had to land in a field nearby on standby due to the amount of helos already in the valley as it was becoming a risk of collision.
The SKTU at St Mawgan came in handy that day!

[Nick.M]

Navy 196 just landed at CU. Think this is a Prestwick call sign?
Also Rescue 193 out this morning Scillies to RCH.

[RichC]

The Prestwick callsigns usually use 177-179
Culdrose use 193-194 for the alert cabs plus others higher up to 199 (i guess).

[Biffodog]

The only reason that Cudlrose could put more than two aircraft in the air for Boscastle was that 771 is the RN SAR training unit so, like SMG back then, had extra aircraft and crews potentially available above that of a standard SAR unit. That wont be the case under the new regime; each base will only have two airframes and one duty crew but with the potential (reportedly) to call on an extra crew in extremis, otherwise any surge capacity will have to come from other bases. Of course the civil authorities will always have the option to call upon Military Aid to the Civil Community/Power but Culdrose will only have Merlins - not the best SAR platform - and the RAF their green fleet.

[Aircraftpaulcornwall]

Hi Biffodog,
Your's is a very interesting observation and really if a 'Boscastle' situation did occur in the future, the probable number of helo assets would be very much decreased.
Merlins, (unless they are converted in some way) are, as you say, not really the best for SAR ops. The RAF may just have Sea Kings (possibly) still stationed at Chivenor and the Coastguard would have their helicopter which would have to come in from Portland. The Cornwall Air Ambulance would still be available, as would also be the Police helicopter. The latter two however, would have no cable lift capability whatsoever, - (possibly only for medivac purposes!)
The 'private' contract SAR helos would have cable lift capability, but if only two (max) available, if such an emergency situation did ever happen in the future - they could be really stretched!! Let's hope that this never happens in the future, but it would probably be prudent to plan for it, just in case! --Paul

[RichC]

The RAF won't have any Seakings at all... And SAR is moving from Chivenor to St Athan. Portland will also close.
Once the Seakings disappear, the new SAR stations down here will be St Athan and Lee On Solent. Culdrose and Chivenor will lose operations.

The fact is, not all those Boscastle Assets could be used at the same time anyway, some had to wait in a field because too many helicopters were using the same airspace. So, to be fair, they had too many helicopters for the area. So i don't think, even with a reduced airframe availability they would be stretched.

The RAF Merlin HC3 was actually constructed as a SAR version of the Merlin for Denmark, they are fitted with a winch and have personal radios/plycon just like the Seakings. These will be stationed at Yeovilton. Chinooks also have a winch as do Wildcats. Plenty of airframes down here for any emergency and 'an hours' flying time away.

[Aircraftpaulcornwall]

Hi all,
Just as a postscript to my last post - if I was OIC at CU, I would suggest (or demand if possible!), that it would be a good idea to convert at least some Merlins for SAR duties - they seem to be a very capable helicopter - they can fly at night and they have advanced avionics/radar/radio/IR, etc - it could be a possible perfect replacement for the Sea King (if only for military recovery purposes!!)

PPS: RichC - yes, many thanks mate, all your comments have been taken on board - you are very right in all of your comments!! --Paul

[EGDR]

It is my understanding that RN Merlins will always be quite capable of SAR due to their deployments on RN ships and aircraft carriers, in fact they are already used for this purpose and train in that aspect quite often.

[Red Hound]

The RAF won't have any Seakings at all... And SAR is moving from Chivenor to St Athan. Portland will also close.
Once the Seakings disappear, the new SAR stations down here will be St Athan and Lee On Solent. Culdrose and Chivenor will lose operations.

I thought Newquay was also to be a base under the new SAR contract.