18 NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2009
SAR raises the bar
WIND the clock back 12
200ft. They normally fl y much higher, To observers from outside looking in, The focus for the remainder of “We were lucky in that two of our guys
months.
but it is essential they have the skill to the helicopter has all but vanished. To the year is to address the backlog in had experience with CHF – most of the
George W Bush was President of
maintain their currency when fl ying in those inside the cab, the outside world training – ‘train to regain’ – every hour engineers have spent their careers with
the United States (just). There was
poor weather.” has all but vanished. fl own must have training value and that 771 and 849.”
still a shop on the high street called
They didn’t stop there. The 771 team “It’s like fl ying in thick fog,” says Lt includes the tasking. At their lowest, temperatures in
Woolworths. The QE2 was still fl ying
also took the Bagger community to Cdr Dave Lambourne. There’s certainly been no give on the Bardufoss (half-way between Narvik
the Cunard fl ag.
Bardufoss in northern Norway and the
“Landing on sand is degree-
SAR front. In all of 2008, the Sea King and Tromsø) reached -46˚C (-50˚F).
Yes, a lot can happen in 12 months.
ranges of San Gregoria in northern Spain
level fl ying. Doing it at
Mk5s were scrambled 201 times. In the Anything below -20˚C and you have
Just ask the men and women of 771
(in winter and summer respectively) to
night, it demands absolutely
fi rst eight months of this year they’d to heat the gearboxes before you use
Naval Air Squadron.
teach the art of landing in a desert and
phenomenal skill.
fl own 235 sorties (and saved 222 lives). them.
Twelve months ago, the Culdrose
dealing with operating on sand. Still, all that fl ying does have its “For us it’s been something we don’t
squadron was focused on saving
Now you’re probably thinking:
“The three weeks in Spain were
bonuses… do – anything away from the norm is
lives (176 to be precise in 2008) in
Cornwall. Beaches. Sand. very, very hard work. Long, irregular This year fi ve 771 aircrew passed good,” the senior rate continues.
its Search and Rescue role (there
So why go to Norway and hours, hot, high, and a very challenging impressive milestones: CO Lt Cdr “It was essential that the lads knew
was also the small matter of
Spain? environment in which to fl y, but Finn, CPO(ACMN) Dave Rigg, igg, the part they played in defence. the
training new Sea King aircrew:
Ah, well, just as the trains excellent training.” PO(ACMN) Jason Bibby (3,000 000 It was important to sit down with It w
four pilots and two observers).
struggle with the ‘wrong type By the end of August, 771 had hours apiece), Lt Cdr Dave the maintainers and explain to
But as the nights drew in
of leaf’, so the shores of clocked up 450 hours on 210 training Lambourne (5,000 hours), and them why we were going to
on the Lizard Peninsula, there
Cornwall are covered with exercises with the Baggers. Lt Cdr Stan Burgess (7,000 Norway or Spain, and show
was one more call to answer,
the ‘wrong type of sand’ That’s on top of ensuring there’s hours) – “He joined up with a presentation of those killed
a plea for assistance from
(wrong if you’re training for at least one helicopter sitting on Uncle Albert,” his colleagues
in Afghanistan. After that, no-
sister Sea King squadrons:
Afghanistan, that is). the tarmac at 15 minutes’ notice to quip.
one complained about working
help us train for Afghanistan.
The fi ne snow of fl y by day, 45 minutes’ by night, on That’s 21,000 fl ying hours s
long, odd hours.”lon
Three weeks later the Ace of
Bardufoss and the equally emergency duties… plus the training of among the fi ve of them; CPO
And lest we forget there are
Clubs were in the skies with their
fi ne dust of San Gregorio are
new aircrew Rigg also celebrated earning the those rescue missions which day
Bagger brethren.
ideal doppelgängers, however.
There’s also been the small matter Queen’s Gallantry Medal for his part in, day out, the squadron fl ies. It is the
As we reported last month, 854 NAS
“The sand in Afghanistan has the
of moving from its old buildings/hangar in a gruelling rescue from a Spanish most demanding fl ying outside a war
(and now 857) have deployed to Camp
constituency of fl our,” explains Lt Cdr
(D1, formerly home of 810 NAS) to D2 trawler 12 months ago. zone.
Bastion to use their unique radars to
Finn. “The sand on the beaches here is
next door (once used by 706 NAS for “Because it’s a ‘700’ squadron it’s “SAR can be very demanding testing
track illegal activity in the Helmand
much heavier.”
readers who can remember that far often viewed as a respite from front- people and aircraft to their limit. You
‘dead zones’.
So what’s landing on Afghan sand
back). line operations. But the hours that we see people with awful injuries but it
It’s a new environment for the
like?
“We’ve not had an uplift in people and work, the tempo are just as great,” says is a very rewarding job,” said Lt Cdr
surveillance Sea Kings – and they
Well, the aircrewman is leaning out of
no additional aircraft to assist with the ex-Jungly aircrewman CPO ‘Soapy’ Lambourne.
needed to train for it, in particular night
the side door with a mask and goggles training. But we were the only squadron Warters.
“And you are fl ying at extremes. If
fl ights. They turned to 771 for whom
guiding the pilot in. available to conduct the training and Every hour in the sky demands up
something’s going to happen, it’s going
fl ying with night vision goggles (NVG) is
At fi rst there’s a small dust cloud everyone has risen to the challenge,” to a dozen ‘man hours’ on the ground
to happen at night, in the worst weather,
a nightly occurrence.
which develops around the tail rotor. says Lt Cdr Finn. maintaining the Sea King. 200 miles away.”
“To date, the Sea King ASaC force
Not a problem. You cannot squeeze all those extra “With a Sea King there are no new For many units, that one duty would
has never fl own on NVG. We had the
And then: whoosh. In a second, the hours into the 771 schedule without snags. We have seen it all before,” says be enough. Throw in student aircrew
experience to teach night vision goggle entire Sea King disappears in a cloud some ‘give’. WO2 Barney Buckland, 771’s senior and front-line training and you can see
fl ying,” explains 771’s CO, Lt Cdr of sand – the technical term is re- Eight cabs and 180 men and women maintenance rating. why Lt Cdr Finn is proud of the men and
‘Sharky’ Finn. circulation; the down-draught generated can only do so much. The result is that “It’s not the amount of fl ying which women in the Ace of Clubs.
“We taught them to fl y safely on NVG by the rotor blades causes the sand to training new aircrew (typically 32 a year) has made the difference rather the “We have raised the bar with what we
including navigating low level down to re-circulate around the helicopter. has slowed down. places we’ve been fl ying in. do this year.”
picture: sac ashley shelley
018_NN_Nov.indd 1 19/10/09 17:20:56
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