Civil aviation rules will have to be relaxed to allow a private American company to take over the UK’s helicopter search and rescue missions.
It was announced last month that Texan firm Bristow Helicopters had won the £1.6 billion contract to provide helicopter search and rescue (SAR) services and fears were raised that their crews would not be as willing to embark on dangerous missions as the RAF and Royal Navy are.
First Minister Alex Salmond told The Courier he is “deeply suspicious” of the plans to hand helicopter SAR to the private sector and warned the changes run the risk of making the service “less effective” than at present.
However, the firm has vowed its pilots will take exactly the same risks those in the military would.
To do this, the helicopters will also be made exempt from civilian flying rules which prevent aircraft from taking off in bad weather.
Managing director Mike Imlach said: “Bristow Helicopters has worked with the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to develop a robust regulatory search and rescue framework within which all of our staff will operate.
“In recognition of the extensive training programmes, pilot experience and the level of equipment available to our SAR crews, the CAA have granted us exemptions that waive the requirements to follow normal civilian rules.
“There are therefore no weather limits that apply to our rescue missions.”
He added: “All search and rescue taskings come from the Air Rescue Coordination Centre at Kinloss and our crews will respond to all requests unless the risk to the crew far outweighs any potential benefit.
“That is the same criteria used by the military. The final decision to launch rests with the crew and ultimately the aircraft commander.”
He concluded: “All SAR crews, both military and civilian, constantly make risk calculations during a rescue and our SAR crews will always do the maximum to save lives.”