Sunnyknight Posted March 26, 2013 Posted March 26, 2013 Our poor Sea King S&R chopper is now practically useless. 70 years old, has a brilliant history, only to be taken over by an overseas company for £1.6bn. Personally, i'd rather the UK have upgraded, and had something we'd still be proud of. R.I.P Sea King. R.I.P. Thoughts?
unixman_again Posted March 26, 2013 Posted March 26, 2013 Bristow operate in the North Sea already, ferrying stuff to Norwegian oil rigs. The are going to use Sikorsky S-92s and AgustaWestland AW189s. The 189 is still in development; great! Let's supply a vapour product to the British govt. I suspect the 198 was penciled in at the last minute to provide a UK component to the deal. I think it should stick to using the RAF and RN, and supply them with 189s (eventually). There are plenty of other helicopters they could buy or lease until it becomes available. I wonder how many RAF/RN personnel with transfer to Bristows?
FN-GM Posted March 26, 2013 Posted March 26, 2013 Our poor Sea King S&R chopper is now practically useless. 70 years old, has a brilliant history, only to be taken over by an overseas company for £1.6bn. Personally, i'd rather the UK have upgraded, and had something we'd still be proud of. R.I.P Sea King. R.I.P. Thoughts? 70 years? More like 45 years old...
elsiegee40 Posted March 26, 2013 Posted March 26, 2013 70 years? More like 45 years old... As my uncle was maintaining them in the RAF in the early 1970s, they are over 50 years old. Seventy years would put them in to service straight in the late 40s/early 50s which seems unlikely.
Sunnyknight Posted March 26, 2013 Author Posted March 26, 2013 70 years? More like 45 years old... As my uncle was maintaining them in the RAF in the early 1970s, they are over 50 years old. Seventy years would put them in to service straight in the late 40s/early 50s which seems unlikely. UK Sells Off Helicopter Search And Rescue Ops Sorry what?
laserblazer Posted March 26, 2013 Posted March 26, 2013 I think he was referring to S&R not the Sea King. I was watching a programme about emergency services in Scotland yesterday and it featured a couple of rescues by Sea Kings from HMS Gannet. I wonder if the Bristow crews will be as experienced in winching casualties out of extremely hazardous situations?
CESIL Posted March 26, 2013 Posted March 26, 2013 From what I can find the Sea King first flew on 7th May 1969...and it was a Sikorsky SH-3D built under licence with some mods...
FN-GM Posted March 26, 2013 Posted March 26, 2013 As my uncle was maintaining them in the RAF in the early 1970s, they are over 50 years old. Seventy years would put them in to service straight in the late 40s/early 50s which seems unlikely. 1969 they went into service 44 years (still alot) UK Sells Off Helicopter Search And Rescue Ops Sorry what? Sorry i thought you was talking about the Sea King itself.
Sunnyknight Posted March 26, 2013 Author Posted March 26, 2013 I think he was referring to S&R not the Sea King. I was watching a programme about emergency services in Scotland yesterday and it featured a couple of rescues by Sea Kings from HMS Gannet. I wonder if the Bristow crews will be as experienced in winching casualties out of extremely hazardous situations? Fudge, you're correct. 70 years of SnR, Near 45 years for the Sea king. My baaaddd....
AMLinington Posted March 26, 2013 Posted March 26, 2013 It's a badly written article in that it implies in the photo caption that the Sea King has been in use for 70 years. Poor Journalism.
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