Waterford SAR to go to 12 hrs in new contract

[Pink Panther]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0315/coastguard.html

[Frank]

For the sake of EUR 1 million per year it seems a bit short sighted, especially if the 10 year contract is worth EUR 500 million, 10mil out of 500mil is small change.

[Joe McDermott]

Very strange indeed ! That's a 50% reduction in cover for the whole South/East for a very tiny % saving. The hangar, aircraft & all the infrastructure will still have to be present for the full 24H while the highly trained & dedicated crews who risk their lives to save lives are insulted by the bean counters who can now say they have saved a few  euros. 

Joe

[heligaz]

Another crap decision by the people in power 

[Silver]

I agree.

Stupid decision to save relative 'pennies' over the 10-year contract.
If one persons life is lost as a result of this crazy decision ...is €1 million well saved?
Not in my books it aint!!

It took long enough for the people of the South East to get SAR coverage in the first place...they need to fight 'tooth and nail' to stop this penny pinching decision!!

[elmo]

Topic was brought up during the news and there was a flight time of about 35 minutes mentioned for the 61 based at Dublin to reach the South-East Waterford area. I think that this whole issue needs to be addressed before theres a loss of life.

[Pink Panther]

When or if Waterford go to 12 hr in the new contract the 92 will be quicker than a 61. The transit times quoted might not be correct. This is a MCA podcast of a SAR pilots opinion of the S-92. Double click on S-92's in Scotland.

http://www.mcapodcasts.co.uk/podcast/index.htm

[Silver]

When or if Waterford go to 12 hr in the new contract the 92 will be quicker than a 61. The transit times quoted might not be correct. This is a MCA podcast of a SAR pilots opinion of the S-92. Double click on S-92's in Scotland.

http://www.mcapodcasts.co.uk/podcast/index.htm

Fair enough. But surely it will never be as quick as having one on standby 24hr at Waterford?? It's the minutes that count is such emergency situations.

Condidering the millions wasted by (for example) Martin Cullen (an ex-Waterford TD no less!) on e-voting (c.€54 million and counting?!) how can a "saving" of only €10million over ten years be justified where peoples lives are at stake??!

[Pink Panther]

Aircraft numbers as I understand it have not been mentioned yet. In all probability it would take five heli's to run three 24 hr and one 12 hr bases, six heli's would be required to run four 24 hr bases, so I don't know where the figure of 10 millionn euro is coming from. In the UK, expected SAR aircraft availability is somewhere in the region of 98%, I can't see it being any different here.

[R.P.Y.]

Hi,
Those interested might like to sign the petition to save the SAR service in the southeast.

http://www.petitiononline.com/sar01/

[Silver]

Signed! thanks for the link!

[Joe McDermott]

Done !

Joe

[davephelan]

I don't know all the in's and out's of why the Aer Corp pulled out of SAR, but at a cost of €500 for 10 years i'm just wondering? if we bought another 5 AW139sand the running costs for 10n years, and we would have a training programme set up already, i'm reckoning it would have to be cheaper overall and much better value . Probably end up with a pool of 12 aircraft , fulfilling the troop transport role and also the SAR role, the way most other countries do, eg Denmark or Portugal

[Pink Panther]

That my friend is not going to happen. The 139 In the SAR role has been found wanting to put it mildly , and will not be used in the next UK SAR contract. It neither has the range or capacity to work in the Irish SAR region.The reason the Aer Corps are not in SAR anymore has been well documented here and something I am not going to go over, just to say that if you use the search funtion and check some of the other Irish aviation websites it will give you all the info you need.

As I understand it, there is no AWSAR training in the AC, they also currently operate from one base(Casement) and have no plans to expand any time soon, I am not aware if the AC have any aircraft that are on 24/7 365 readiness but I stand to be corrected.

This is not a slur on AC personel by the way, but this is how it is. 
SAR is SAR, military is military and should be kept that way, in my opinion. Concentrate on doing one or the other and do it well.
I hope this is of help.

[CK]

Even if Dublin is close Waterford should stay open as the fishing community around there have a high amount of tragdies in that area for least the last 10 years.