500th SAR mission for Bristow’s Prestwick base
Prestwick provides life-saving support on and offshore around Scotland’s west coast.
HM Coastguard’s search and rescue (SAR) helicopter team at Prestwick has completed its milestone 500th mission since it began flying in January 2016, Bristow Helicopters has reported. The base was the sixth purpose-built operational centre established as SAR became a civilian service, operated by Bristow Helicopters, in April 2015.
One of 10 Coastguard bases strategically located around the UK, Prestwick provides life-saving support on and offshore around Scotland’s west coast, to commercial shipping and fishing vessels, ferries, and pleasure craft as well as land-based incidents including mountain rescues, missing persons and other medical emergencies.
Completing 500 missions in less than a year-and-a-half is a significant occasion for Prestwick’s dedicated teams of pilots and specialist winchman paramedics, winch operators, engineers and support staff, the majority of whom transferred to the new Coastguard SAR service from the former military operation, said Bristow.
Rob Seall, chief technical crewman, reflected: “As a new base, our focus has been on ensuring a smooth transition for the service. Reaching 500 missions in only 18 months shows how much demand there is for our support around the west coast. Bringing people home safely from search and rescue operations, dedicating ourselves to year-round training, and living up to the incredibly high standard that the UK SAR service has been renowned for delivering for more than 70 years means we are always busy.”
The Prestwick SAR base has a team of 30, located at Prestwick Airport, southwest of Glasgow in Ayrshire.
Bristow began operating the UK’s SAR service on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in 2015, after winning the tender in 2013. The Humberside helicopter SAR base, which like Prestwick transferred to Bristow in April 2015, marked its 500th-mission milestone on 14 June