16 NAVY NEWS, APRIL 2008
Kings of the mountains
I
T’S often the simplest their job,” says Spike. “The
things which make the
guy on the winch relies on the
greatest impact.
Nowhere away from the battlefi eld is
pilots following the observer’s
A large map of Scotland posted
more dangerous for aviators. And instructions.”
on the wall is peppered with small
no aviators are busier than the
There are four crew in each SAR
numbered pins. Up and up go the men and women of HMS Gannet.
Sea King – two pilots, the observer
numbers. They stop at 357.
on the radar, the aircrewman on
RICHARD HARGREAVES spent a
In places, the fi gures cluster
the winch. Given the locations and
– around Ben Nevis and Glencoe
day with Britain’s No.1 Search And conditions these helicopters fl y
especially.
Rescue unit.
in, two pilots are essential (unlike
For it is there that the men and
Junglies, which normally fl y with
women of HMS Gannet are at
one, for example).
home. “It’s an exhausting job – you
There are ‘wet jobs’ – rescues in
Nelson, it all sounds so routine. that “very satisfying” feeling. But
have to monitor all things
the Clyde, over the Irish Sea, even
Take off, pick up a mountain this is not Hollywood. There is not
at all times, there’s no real
out in the Atlantic. They are the
rescue team, pick up the victim, always a happy ending.
autopilot,” says Spike.
exception not the rule.
take them to hospital, return for “There are occasions when you
“It’s also noisy, it vibrates
“The mountains are our bread
rescue team, take them home, want to help but circumstances
constantly and there’s no
and butter,” says Lt Cdr Martin
return to base. won’t allow you,” explains Lt Cdr
heating.”
Lanni, Gannet’s second-in-
It is, of course, anything but. Nicholas. “When the tug capsized
command.
“The weather you see out of the in the Clyde recently we were
The weather, the hills and
His boss nods. “Our raison
window here is not the same as up hovering along the river at 20ft
mountains, the ships swinging and
d’etre is mountain rescue. That’s
in the mountains,” imparts Lt Cdr but in the end we had to give up
rocking, rising and falling violently,
what makes us different from any
Nicholas. because of the fog.
conspire to make this one of the
other RN unit,” says Lt Cdr Bryan
And the weather – the swirling “Saying ‘no’ is the most diffi cult
most dangerous job not merely in
Nicholas, Gannet’s Commanding
winds and gusts racing down the thing we can do. It’s not something
the Fleet Air Arm or RN, but UK
Offi cer.
glens and lochs and over the peaks, we say lightly.”
plc.
Indeed it does. But shouldn’t the snow, the driving rain, the
It is not always the weather which
“You are always geared up for
naval aviators be touching down sleet, the infamous Scottish mist
is beyond the crew’s control.
coming home, but you are also
on the back of a frigate rolling on – is only one half of the challenge
“I never realised how much was
prepared for something going
the high seas, ferrying commandos in the mountains.
involved in a heart transplant until
wrong,” Spike explains.
around in the swirling dust There is the constant danger of
we had to fl y a harvest team to Fort
“You cannot, of course, let it
of Afghanistan or plucking a ‘tip strike’ – of the rotor blades
William in atrocious conditions,”
dominate your thoughts, but you
trawlermen from sinking fi shing striking a crag or rock face as the says Spike.
do have to think: how will I get out
vessels in the Channel? helicopter manoeuvres to conduct “That call came at the end of a
of this? If you get stuck somewhere,
Ah, thereby lies a tale. a rescue. Add the complication of 20-hour day when we’d fl own fi ve
no-one is going to rescue you. Who
It grew from the need to darkness or poor visibility and you missions. We got there, but it was
rescues the rescuers?”
rescue downed fl iers from begin to see why senior offi cers too late. It was quite a sad ending
The fl ip side of this coin is that,
Britain’s waters – although it was regarded Search and Rescue as the – we’d done everything we could,
as Lt Cdr Lanni says, “in peace
very much a secondary role for most challenging fl ying away from but it wasn’t enough.”
time there’s no better fl ying. A
squadrons typically dedicated the battlefi eld. Unlike other emergency
senior visitor described it as the
to anti-submarine warfare. And It is also probably the most high- services, the Search and Rescue
most challenging fl ying outside
the secondary role soon became profi le. Few months go by without teams suffer few, if any, hoax calls;
Afghanistan.”
the principal one; the UK has a some rescue or other making the when the Sea King scrambles
But in Afghanistan, you probably
● Refl ecting on a hectic year... A Gannet cab and one of its crew as
legal obligation to rescue those in headlines. there’s a genuine need or, rarely, seen through the glare of a helmet Picture: LA(Phot) Del Trotter, FRPU Clyde
don’t get a red helicopter sketched
trouble in its waters.
in crayon, pinned to the message
Those waters lie a relative
The men and women of
someone is genuinely mistaken.
who underwent an eight-week
board outside the CO’s offi ce. It’s
stone’s throw away from Gannet’s
Gannet would never regard
And most rescuees are victims of
the rescuers can at least get an
conversion course to learn
a token of gratitude from one of
home on the edge of Prestwick
themselves as heroes – that
circumstance. Generally speaking,
accurate fi x on someone’s location
the art of precision winching,
the 70-plus Scottish schools the
international airport, near Ayr.
word tritely bandied about
they do not rashly set off into the
courtesy of their phones.
as well as receiving medical
Sea Kings drop in on each year.
But the seas are safer than the
by journalists. Nor are they
hills and mountains, ill-prepared To those rescued, the winchman
instruction. And one thing is
There are other notes of
hills and mountains less than an
adrenaline junkies or people
or ill-equipped – although the – the ‘dope on a rope’ as colleagues
worth stressing: aircrewmen are
appreciation, too.
hour’s fl ying time to the north…
living for death or glory.
weather can often catch them affectionately refer to them – is
the knight in shining armour (or not rescue swimmers. They do not
“I am very relieved that this
where that bread and butter is
Nor again, though, is this an
out. No amount of planning and
dayglo fl ying suit). intentionally leap into a raging sea
rather unfortunate incident
earned.
ordinary occupation.
precaution, however, can prevent
that stumble over a rock, that fall, “Best job in the world. Love it,” to pluck a mariner to safety. occurred in an area where help
It’s not just the airmen who “This is a ‘life and death’ job,” that slip which forces them to call
says LACMN Kev Regan, a gift- “Being in junglies was good,
was near at hand,” writes Clare
earn their bread and butter here. says Lt Cdr Stuart ‘Spike’ Pike. for help.
of-the-gab Scouser. but there you train for what could
Strain, rescued from a hill on the
The aviators rely on the invaluable “But it’s also a balancing act. We That call for help is becoming
“One minute you’re on top of happen and often doesn’t, whereas Holy Isle.
local knowledge of mountain do not rush into a rescue with considerably more easy… which
Ben Nevis, the next you’re over a here you what you are trained to And from Sue Bradley from
rescue teams. Uniquely, once a both feet. There’s no bravado in means considerably more call-outs
fi shing vessel. do on a daily basis,” he says. Lancaster, who called for help
casualty has been carried off a this career. for Gannet.
“It’s a very challenging job, but The winchman may be the on the slopes of Ben Nevis: “I
mountainside to safety, the Sea “But there are times when you “People are using their mobile
it’s also a pretty satisfying one. If epitome of Search and Rescue in truly shudder to think how things
King invariably returns to pick up realise that someone has lived phones more – in the past they
you are the only person who can the public’s mind, but ask anyone might have been without such a
the rescue teams. because of what we’ve done – and might have hobbled down a
help – and you did help – then it at Gannet and they’ll tell you it’s a dedicated group who are willing to
Sitting here in a nice, well that’s very satisfying.” mountain. Now they give us a
gives you a warm feeling.” team effort. help people who fi nd themselves
comfortable, offi ce in HMS
Most missions conclude with call,” says Spike. On the plus side, Kev is a ‘junglie’ veteran, “You rely on everybody doing in diffi culty.”
SAR performance
IN A fairly small-scale organisation –
within a 200-mile radius of Gannet. That gives around 40 ‘man hours’ on the ground from its
there are just 12 Search and Rescue
the aircrew about 30 minutes “on scene”. engineers.
units in the UK – the Royal Navy
One Sea King sits on the tarmac at 15 They are not AETs and AEMs, but
minutes’ notice to move by day, 45 minutes messieurs; support organisation Serco, not
makes up the smallest part – two by night. Disappointingly, when the call to Fleet Air Arm engineers look after the ‘birds’
dedicated units; the Coastguard
scramble comes, there’s no fi reman’s pole to – although many of the civvies are former RN
and RAF provide the remainder.
slither down (probably because they’re not Sea King maintainers.
Indeed, HMS Gannet is one of the smallest
fi remen – Ed). “We’re here 24 hours a day, just like the
dark blue enclaves in the UK. Uniformed
“You spend 99 per cent of the time sitting in aircraft and just like the aircrew,” explains
personnel total little more than 30; total staff
the crew room,” says Spike. Hugh Shand, site engineering manager (and a
numbers just break the 100 barrier.
“But when that call comes in, you have former matelot).
There’s no wardroom here (but there is the
two or three, perhaps fi ve, minutes to plan a “The aircraft expect to fl y about 1,500 hours
Elvis Bar, made from a bit of bowling lane
mission.” a year, so they get a service every night. You just
apparently used by The King when he passed
There are times, however, when you can need to give them a bit more TLC.”
through Prestwick nearly 50 years ago), no
prepare yourself mentally in advance – such Sea King is tried and tested technology. So
junior or senior rates’ mess.
as when you know a storm is brewing. Gannet too is the ‘sea search’ radar which the fl ight
Indeed, driving through a village on
has a small meteorological team who provide observer uses in the back of the cab. It will
the edge of the airfi eld I’m convinced
daily weather briefi ngs for the fl ight and also pick out ships, buoys, cliffs. It will not pick up
the ‘RNAS Prestwick’ sign on the
Faslane, BUTEC (the underwater warfare aircraft. Nor people.
roundabout must be wrong.
testing range near the Kyle of Lochalsh) and For that there is the Mark I eyeball, aided in
The road is lined by homes,
45 Commando. the dark by night vision goggles – a vital piece
aircraft hangars and sheds. But
But not every call-out is provoked by the of kit the naval SAR teams didn’t have a decade
then there’s the giveaway: the White
weather; there’s a strong cluster of numbered ago. But they are not a panacea. They do not
Ensign fl uttering in the stiff breeze
pins driven into the map around Rothesay turn night into day.
on a mast.
(pop. 6,000) on the Isle of Bute (it’s not a place They need some natural light to aid them;
This is the sole Fleet Air Arm
which draws mountaineers, but it is a place without you get ‘scintillation’ (picture the fuzz
presence north of the border. If you
where women in labour need ferrying to the you get on your TV when you lose your signal.
want to fi nd another whirlybird with
mainland). Now imagine it being green). The goggles are
the letters ROYAL NAVY emblazoned
For NHS duties, the Navy can charge the also heavy; the aircrew only wear them for short
on the side, you have to fl y 320 miles
relevant health authority; for rescues there is periods when they’re over the rescue scene.
south to Yeovilton.
no charge, whether it is the individual’s fault The goggles are today’s and tomorrow’s
Gannet’s domain does not stretch quite that or not. technology. Sea King is very much yesteryear
far, mercifully. It is vast, nevertheless – there is SAR is an expensive business. Fuel isn’t – but the Search and Rescue variant is not due
none vaster among the UK’s dozen SAR units: cheap. Aircrew are neither cheap to train nor to be phased out for another decade.
98,000 square miles of land and sea. cheap to pay. And then there’s the aircraft. It’s By then, however, SAR in the UK will
A piece of string with markers every ten not cheap to buy. It’s not cheap to maintain look very different. From 2012 onwards, one
miles fi xed fi rmly into Prestwick by a pin allows either. contractor will take over the entire operation; it
the fl iers to instantly work out roughly how far Sea King is old. The fi rst ones entered service will call upon a core of 66 military pilots.
their destination is when that call to scramble four decades ago. The last ones rolled off the Whether Gannet is still here then is a
● A winchman is hauled up into one of comes. production line in 1990. decision for the future. Until that day, its men
Gannet’s Sea Kings The SAR Sea King HAS 5 has an endurance With age comes increased maintenance. and women will make decisions daily. And
Picture: WO1 Ian Arthur, FRPU Clyde of about fi ve hours – covering roughly anywhere For every hour in the air, a Sea King devours theirs truly are a matter of life and death.
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