RAF SAR crew snapped getting ice creams
The UK’s media have gleefully reported on the landing by a search and rescue helicopter crew on a beach, ‘so the pilot can buy ice cream’, to quote the Telegraph newspaper. After the Royal Air Force (RAF) Sea King landed on the sand at Winterton-on-Sea, onlookers watched (and photographed) a crew member exit the aircraft and enter a beachside café, before emerging with ice creams.
The UK’s media have gleefully reported on the landing by a search and rescue helicopter crew on a beach, ‘so the pilot can buy ice cream’, to quote the Telegraph newspaper. After the Royal Air Force (RAF) Sea King landed on the sand at Winterton-on-Sea, onlookers watched (and photographed) a crew member exit the aircraft and enter a beachside café, before emerging with ice creams.
The Telegraph described the crew from RAF Wattisham as ‘cheeky’, as did the Daily Mirror newspaper, which took the opportunity to mention the recent case where a UK Coastguard helicopter stopped off to pick up an order of beef (http://www.airmedandrescue.com/story363). The Coastguard pilot was suspended over the incident pending investigation. In contrast, a Ministry of Defence spokesman defended the RAF crew’s actions, stating: “SAR crews complete a variety of training sorties when not completing life-saving operations. Crews are often required to land on beaches during SAR operations and they regularly practise this skill as part of routine training sorties. The decision of the rear crew (not pilots as widely reported) to obtain refreshments on a hot day during this sortie, whilst being somewhat unconventional, is not against regulations.”
According to the Telegraph’s report, the products purchased were three milk chocolate and one white chocolate choc ice.
Product depicted may differ substantially from the actual refreshments consumed. Renata Osińska