Etouffee
Vital Squad Member
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21934077" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21934077</a></p><p> <img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/66605000/jpg/_66605313_bristow.jpg" width="304" height="171" border="0" /> </p><p>Not sure if this made much of a blip on the radar in the UK but this is a big win for the company I work for. I have been tracking the aircraft in the pic for the last few weeks while it and G-MCGB have been doing trials in Inverness. </p><p class="introduction"> </p><p class="introduction"><font style="">A private company will take over the UK's helicopter search and rescue operations, the Department for Transport has announced.</font></p><p><font style="">The Bristow Group has won a 10-year contract to run the service from 2015.</font></p><p><font style="">The £1.6bn deal ends 70 years of search and rescue from the RAF and Royal Navy.</font></p><p><font style="">Bristow will replace ageing RAF and Royal Navy Sea King helicopters with modern Sikorsky S-92s and AgustaWestland 189s.</font></p><p><font style="">Under the new contract, 22 helicopters will operate from 10 locations around the UK.</font></p><p><font style="">Ten S-92s will be based, two per site, at Stornoway and Sumburgh, and at new bases at Newquay, Caernarfon and Humberside airports.</font></p><p><font style="">Ten AW189s will operate, two per site, from Lee-on-the-Solent and a new hangar at Prestwick airport, and new bases which will be established at St Athan, Inverness and Manston airports.</font></p><p><font style="">All bases will be operational 24 hours a day, and half of the new fleet will be built in Yeovil, Somerset.</font></p><p><font style="">The new deal will also see Bristow take over some of the civilian SAR bases currently run by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.</font></p><p><font style="">Bristow Helicopters is an Aberdeen-based company, although the corporate headquarters of the Bristow Group is in Texas.</font></p><p><font style="">The firm has already been preparing crews for coastguard duties at Sumburgh in Shetland and Stornoway in the Western Isles.</font></p><p><font style="">The other current search and rescue (SAR) bases are Culdrose, Wattisham, Valley, Boulmer, Portland, Lee-on-the-Solent, Chivenor, Leconfield, Lossiemouth and Prestwick.</font></p><p><font style="">There will continue to be an RAF base at Valley, Anglesey, but the SAR unit will be in Caernarfon.</font></p><p><font style="">The new service run by Bristow will be fully rolled out by summer 2017.</font></p><span class="cross-head" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 16px; display: block; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><font style="">'Great confidence'</font></span><p><font style="">The Department for Transport began the procurement process in November 2011 for providing SAR helicopter services on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.</font></p><p><font style="">It wanted an all-weather SAR helicopter service able to operate throughout the UK, including mountainous terrain and at sea.</font></p><p><font style="">Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "Our search and rescue helicopter service plays a crucial role, saving lives and providing assistance to people in distress on both land and on sea.</font></p><p><font style="">"With 24 years of experience providing search and rescue helicopter services in the UK, the public can have great confidence in Bristow and their ability to deliver a first class service with state-of-the-art helicopters."</font></p><p><font style="">The government says the new deal means helicopters "will be able reach a larger area of the UK search and rescue region within one hour of take off than is currently possible".</font></p><p><font style="">It also estimates, based on historic data, that there will be an overall improvement in flying times to incidents of around 20% - from 23 to 19 minutes.</font></p><p><font style="">Bristow's website says its helicopters and pilots have already rescued more than 7,000 people in the UK. It also operates in the Netherlands, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, Russia, Brazil and Canada. </font></p><p> </p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21934077" target="_blank"></a>