Coast Guard Helicopter Replacement

[Vulcan]

I was looking through a book today to discover, to my surprise that the Sikorsky S61’s will be 50 years old next year.  Just wondering what people’s thoughts on what a good replacement would be?  I think that the Coast Guard could maybe split the helicopter types depending on the location.  On the west and south coast they could probably do with a helicopter with a decent range to avoid the use of RAF Seakings on long range rescues, where as on the east coast the range may not be as important.

I was thinking of maybe one of these for the west and south coast.

Eurocopter AS 532 Cougar       Range 656 NM             Capacity 21 + 2 crew
NH Industries NH 90         Range 650 NM    Capacity 14-20 + 2 crew
Sikorsky S92            Range 475 NM   Capacity 20 + 2 crew
EH Industries EH 101 Merlin      Radius 350 NM   Capacity 30(+)+ 3 crew

Maybe for the east coast .

Eurocopter EC 155         Range 448 NM   Capacity 12 + 2 crew
Sikorsky SH60 Seahawk      Range 319 NM   Capacity 14 + 2 crew
Westland Lynx          Radius 269 NM   Capacity 12 + 2 crew
AW 139            Radius 307 NM   Capacity 12-15 + 2 crew

Or something special for the west coast.

Sikorsky SH-53E Super Stallion   Range 1,120 NM   Capacity 55 + 3 crew

Be interesting to see others opinions.  Nothing against the sturdy old S61N but aint gonna last for ever.

[Stanly]

What's wrong with a Hind or two for the west coast and a few Hips for the East....................

[Vulcan]

What's wrong with a Hind or two for the west coast and a few Hips for the East....................

Nothing.

[SousaTeuszii]

West coast needs range, East coast needs capacity.
Both of these requirements point towards a fleet of one large type. Besides to split types will increase cost to the coastguard via increased logistics and the requirement for a spare for each type, ie 6 aircraft instead of 5.

You can rule out all of the military types as they cannot be operated by civilian operators which basically leaves todays markets with the S92 or EC225. The 101 is a possibility but it has only sold 1 civil aircraft, is a logs nightmare and for all its size has a payload a little greater then an EC225.

[Joe McDermott]

CHC Scotia have replaced the S.61's in the UK with S.92A aircraft on the HM Coastguard contract.  I think the number delivered so far is five. Bristows still have about six S.61's on the contract.

Joe

[Vulcan]

You can rule out all of the military types as they cannot be operated by civilian operators which basically leaves todays markets with the S92 or EC225. The 101 is a possibility but it has only sold 1 civil aircraft, is a logs nightmare and for all its size has a payload a little greater then an EC225.

Eurocopter AS 332 Super Puma is the civil version of the AS 532 so could they consider that?  Don't they use them on the rigs?

[SousaTeuszii]

Hi Vulcan,
AS 332 L1 and L2 are indeed varients of the 532  and both are in use in civil operations however the EC225 is the latest Puma varient, a civil version of the EC725 looked at by the Air Corps many years ago.

[Pink Panther]

CHC Scotia have replaced the S.61's in the UK with S.92A aircraft on the HM Coastguard contract.  I think the number delivered so far is five. Bristows still have about six S.61's on the contract.

Joe

CHC Scotia look after the MCA SAR contract now, using both S-92's and AW 139's, and will untill 2012 when SARH will come into operating, Bristows are out of the loop for the time being.
CHC Irelands "fifth base" so to speak in now in operation as I understand it out of Lee on Solent helping MCA SAR crews transition from the 61 to 92's and 139's and will finish up sometime late summer.When this is completed it will be the end of ethe S-61 SAR era in the UK, and the heli's will be retired to well deserved greener pastures.

[sealion]

All the S-61s are pretty old at this stage, most early 70s vintage, if I recall correctly. They have earned their rest.

[sealion]

RCG took part in an exercise with what may be the worlds Largest cruise liner on tuesday off Cork Harbour.

They met up with Independence of the Seas off Roches point and practiced winching on to the forward part of the ship.


Note, she is over 150,000 tonnes(GT) and 339m long. she sits 14 decks above the waterline. Sadly she was out of photo range, I could only hear them on Marine VHF along with the Crosshaven Coastguard and RNLI.