NEW CHOPPERS for SEARCH & RESCUE.

[Andy the Coastie]

Just had this e:mailed to me ........


It cost an estimated £9,000 to scramble the Coastguard helicopter while launching a lifeboat costs in the region of £6,000.

Bristow helicopters has lost its contract to provide the UKs Coastguard search and rescue (SAR) helicopters to a Canadian company.
Bristow has provided Britions SAR helicopters for 20 years & recently performed it’s 10,000 rescue.
The Maritme Coastguard Agency has awarded a 5 year contract to CHC Scotia, starting from July 2007.
CHC will deploy seven specially equipped SAR helicopters at Sumbrgh, Stornoway, Lee-on-Solent & Portland on a 24/7 basis.
The aircraft will be four of the giant Sikorsky S92s & two Agusta Bell AB139s.
They wii replase four Sikorsky S61s operated by Bristow at the same locations.
John Astbury, Chief Coastguard said:
‘these new aircraft will be able to fly more quickly, and will be able to fly farther to people in distress at sea than those currently in use.’
‘They will come on line from mid 2007 & will be specifically kitted with various items of advanced technical equipment, including an onboard automatic identification system, specifically designed for search & rescue.
The crew of the existing services are likely to be offered jobs with CHC.
Bristow operated helicopters have flown more than 14,500 operational flying hours over 22 years, rescuing approximately 6,500 people.

[Mick F]

Originally Posted by Andy the Commie

Bristow operated helicopters have flown more than 14,500 operational flying hours over 22 years, rescuing approximately 6,500 people.

Now that's what I call "making a difference"

[j.w.]

It is a great service indeed. I hope the people that have been involved in it get the chance to stay on if they wish to.
Pity that another contract has left these shores though.
Could turn into a rant, I'll leave it there.
John.

[Paul Oliver]

Well they look very impressive

The stats for the outgoing one's are rather outstanding, like Mick says "making a difference" well done.

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Andy the Commie

It cost an estimated £9,000 to scramble the Coastguard helicopter while launching a lifeboat costs in the region of £6,000.

ARGH!!!!
Acountantspeak.

They add up the total cost and divide by the number of times it is used and call that cost per. It may well cost thousands of pounds a week to have a lifeboat just sitting there used or unused but the cost of sending it out isn't an extra £6000 per pop.

I've seen a company go bust because they let accountants do that. These are the kind of silly stories that make people NOT call the coastguard because they don't want to waste a lot of money so they wait until their simple problem has become a disaster

[zepp]

Originally Posted by nigelH

ARGH!!!!
Acountantspeak.

They add up the total cost and divide by the number of times it is used and call that cost per. It may well cost thousands of pounds a week to have a lifeboat just sitting there used or unused but the cost of sending it out isn't an extra £6000 per pop.

I've seen a company go bust because they let accountants do that. These are the kind of silly stories that make people NOT call the coastguard because they don't want to waste a lot of money so they wait until their simple problem has become a disaster

That is so true. A diver surfacing with slight pains may put off calling the coastguard if he/she thinks it will cost £9000 for them to scramble. I bet in reality the actual cost would be: the fuel used, maybe £200/hr, ware 'n tear, a guess at £100/hr. Other things such as maintainance, servicing and wages etc would be paid out irrespective of whether the 'copter is on the ground or in the air. The same thing has been said about calling an ambulance, over £1000 per call.

[Pez]

Unfortunately you have to account for them somehow. The helicopter I fly round in has a whole life cost of over £30 000/hour. that includes the purchase cost, maintenance, fuel and oil etc etc . Cost to the customer, £nil.

Not too sure on the fuel burn rate of the new CG helos, but it would be more like thousand(s) per hour at current fuel prices. We burn in the region of 1200 litres an hour but are much larger than the shiny red and white ones!

The cost of helicopters is astronomical, I am sure this is why much of the SAR in this country is retained by the military and the cost absorbed by MoD. I do not fancy having to have suffcient insurance cover to repay helicopter rescue costs in the event of an airlift post dive.

The reassuring thing is that no one even considers the cost of launching any asset to save life. The beancounters are nowhere near the front line, long may that continue.

[Andy the Coastie]

Originally Posted by nigelH

ARGH!!!!
Acountantspeak.

They add up the total cost and divide by the number of times it is used and call that cost per. It may well cost thousands of pounds a week to have a lifeboat just sitting there used or unused but the cost of sending it out isn't an extra £6000 per pop.

That quote of £ 6000 is the AVERAGE over all the station over the year, but i guess it's a lot lower than that. Also taken into account of this is the basic running costs, the RNLI Mechanics have a planned maintenance schudule they must do, which includes changing parts at Different hours run.

I'll give you a example of a CALL we did the other week, where we launched to a upturned dinghy with persons reported in the water at 20:00 at night.
There were from the RNLI only 4 boats in use... Dover, Dover 'Yankee' ( our little boat on top we carry, Walmer Atlantic '21' and Walmer D Class. All boats were searching or just under 3 hours each.

For our boat :-

I can tell you that Dover Lifeboat uses 6 lts of diesel per minute per engine at full speed and the RNLI pays .36p per litre, therefore roughly 720 lts are used per hour, which is £ 260

We used 22 white para flares at a cost of £ 45 each = £ 990

and thats just what i can remember.

Originally Posted by nigelH

I've seen a company go bust because they let accountants do that. These are the kind of silly stories that make people NOT call the coastguard because they don't want to waste a lot of money so they wait until their simple problem has become a disaster

YOUR wrong there,,,, look at the amount of HOAX calls and calls with good intent.

HOAX calls are where the money is wasted.

At the end of the day, it's people doing number juggling to see where it's best used and to place assets where needed most. Just by looking on the RNLI site, you can see the busiest top 10 lifeboats and then look what jobs there are doing., stunning , i must say.

Going back to the MCA and choppers, the big rumour is that the MoD are going to down size the SAR chopper flights over the next couple of years, so all the MCA are doing is getting the best UK SAR coverage up to date without any loss .
And YOU as a diver don't want to wait 2 hours for a chopper coming to you from far up the country, all because of money , do you ? NOPE.


From chatting to a Coastguard the other day, the MCA this tax year had a annual budget of £ 125 million and covers everything,( and just think, the contact for the 5 TUGS splattered around the coast is a £ 75 million contract over 5 years, but the FRENCH do put some in the pot for this ). This is the smallest budget in the civil service for any of the other departments.

[Andy the Coastie]

Originally Posted by zepp

That is so true. A diver surfacing with slight pains may put off calling the coastguard if he/she thinks it will cost £9000 for them to scramble.

Do you remember the thread i started about WHO IS IN COMMAND ?

Your see why in the near distant future.

Originally Posted by zepp

I bet in reality the actual cost would be: the fuel used, maybe £200/hr, ware 'n tear, a guess at £100/hr.

I think your find that is less than to get the rotor's turning ...

I'll dig out some figures tomorrow.... if i can find a file.

[zepp]

Originally Posted by Andy the Commie

Do you remember the thread i started about WHO IS IN COMMAND ?

Your see why in the near distant future.




I think your find that is less than to get the rotor's turning ...

I'll dig out some figures tomorrow.... if i can find a file.

I was just making a point, I know it would probably be more, but certainly not £9000