Yesterday Bristow Helicopters celebrated with Sikorsky Aircraft to mark the two companies’ agreement for Bristow to operate 11 S-92 helicopters across search-and-rescue (SAR) bases in the U.K. The helicopters comprise half of a fleet of 22 new helicopters Bristow has ordered (the others are AW189s).
The SAR bases are strategically located near areas of high search-and-rescue need, and are being set up to fulfill a SAR contract awarded to Bristow in 2013. “Our first two bases are scheduled to go live April 1 in Inverness, Scotland and Humberside, in England,” said project team leader Samantha Willenbacher, Bristow’s UK search and rescue director.
Sikorsky is outfitting these aircraft with high-definition forward-looking infrared (FLIR) and thermal image cameras; night-vision goggles (NVGs) with a compatible glass cockpit; icing protection; twin hoists; and a comprehensive medical suite. The S-92 can fly at 145 knots with as much as four hours endurance.
“We are responsible for all search-and-rescue, both maritime and inland, so we need the kind of technology and speed this aircraft provides,” said Willenbacher. “There will be seven new bases we are constructing to service this contract.” The company currently operates four SAR S-92 helicopters out of Sumburgh and Stornoway as part of a 2012 contract awarded by the U.K. Gap SAR in Northern Scotland.
Bristow Group president and CEO Jonathan Baliff noted that two-thirds of the new-hire pilots and crew Bristow is acquiring to fly the SAR missions for the contract are U.K. military personnel. “They are already flying out of Lincolnshire and Humberside right now with 202 squadron,” Baliff noted. “We have great confidence that we can serve this contract as well as the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy have been doing,” he said.
To date, Bristow has flown more than 44,000 SAR operational hours and rescued more than 7,000 people with its helicopters and crews.