NOTABLE SEARCH & RESCUE INCIDENTS

ARCC Kinloss coordinates over 2000 incident each year. Here is a selection of the more notable Search & Rescue incidents:

25 Jun 07 - Two RAF Sea Kings from Leconfield, a RAF Sea King from Boulmer and a RAF Sea King from Wattisham were tasked to rescue people trapped in buildings following substantial flooding in Sheffield. In total, 98 people were rescued from buildings, cars and rivers within the city.

12 Apr 07 - A RAF Sea King from Lossiemouth, a RN Sea King from Prestwick, a RAF Nimrod from Kinloss, A MCA S61N helicopter from Sumburgh and a Bond Superpuma from Sumburgh were tasked following the capsize of a rig support vessel west of Shetland. The aircraft rescued survivors and conducted a search for the missing crew.

23 Feb 07 - Two RAF Sea Kings from Valley, and RAF Sea Kings from Boulmer and Leconfield, together with the RAF Mountain Rescue team from Leeming, were tasked to assist passengers involved in the derailment of a Virgin train near Kendal. Twenty-four passengers were airlifted to hospitals in Lancaster, Preston and Carlisle.

29 Jan 07 - Two RN Sea Kings from Culdrose were scrambled to an emergency beacon detected by UKMCC, 150 miles west of Isles of Scilly. The helicopters found the crew, who had taken to liferafts, and rescued all seven.

18 Jan 07 - Three RN Sea Kings from Culdrose were scrambled to assist the crew of the MSC Napoli, a container ship taking on water in the English Channel. The crew of twenty-six were winched to safety by the helicopters.

11 Jan 07 - A RAF Sea King from Wattisham and a RAF Sea King from Leconfield were scrambled to evacuate the crews of a merchant ship and an offshore installation. Engine failure on board the ship raised concerns of an imminent collision but fortunately the ship narrowly missed the platform.

27 Dec 06 - A RAF Sea King from Valley and a RAF Sea King from Leconfield were scrambled to a Eurocopter helicopter crash in Morecambe Bay. The helicopters conducted search and recovery operations but tragically there were no survivors.

26 Oct 06 - A RAF Sea King from Boulmer and 3 RAF Nimrods from Kinloss were scrambled to assist in the search for a missing fishing vessel in the North Sea. The aircraft conducted a thorough search of the area but did not find the vessel or the crew, who were later believed to have perished.

24 Oct 06 - RAF Sea Kings from Wattisham and Leconfield, a RN Sea King from Yeovilton and MRTs from Valley and Leeming were scrambled to assist the crew of an RAF Tornado. The crew had ejected near the Wash but were rescued by the RAF helicopters and taken to Kings Lynn hospital.

13 Jul 06 - A RN Sea King with a doctor were scrambled from Prestwick to a ski gondola collision at Aonoch Mor, near Fort William. R177 dropped off the winchman and doctor to assist Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team in attending to the injured. R177 then ferried casualties to awaiting ambulances at the car park.

10 Jul 06 - Two RAF Sea Kings from Boulmer, a RN Sea King from Prestwick, a RAF Sea King from Lossiemouth and 3 Lossiemouth Tornados were involved in a protracted search for a missing glider in the Aboyne area of Scotland. The glider was located the next day at by a Lossiemouth Tornado who directed R137 to the scene. R137 found the pilot still in the cockpit, injured but conscious. R137 left two crewmen at the scene, then departed to Braemar to pick up 4 firemen with cutting gear. R137 then returned to the scene, extracted the casualty, and took him to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

01 Jun 06 - A Coastguard S61N from Stornoway, A RAF Sea King from Lossiemouth a RAF Nimrod from Kinloss and numberous fishing vessels and RNLI lifeboats were tasked to search for the crew of a fishing boat in the vicinity of Skye. Debris was found by R137 and the sunken vessel was later found by a fishing boat, close to the Isle of Skye.

24 May 06 - A RN Sea King from Culdrose, a RAF Sea King from Chivenor and a RAF Nimrod from Kinloss were scrambled to assist the crew of an Irish registered fishing boat with 10 Spanish crew. The crew had activated a distress beacon and abandoned the sinking vessel 180 miles south-east of the Scilly Isles. Eight fishermen were located and the search was completed by merchant vessels that were requested to assist by Falmouth Coastguard.

06 May 06 - RAF Sea Kings from Chivenor and Wattisham, and Coastguard S61N helicopters from Solent and Portland were tasked to assist a ferry on fire in the English channel. A fire team was winched onto the vessel and the fire was extinguished.

16 Apr 06 - A RN Sea King from Prestwick, A RAF Sea King from Lossiemouth and RAF Mountain Rescue teams from Kinloss, Leuchars and Valley were tasked to search for a missing hillwalker on Ben More, north-east of Loch Lomond.

16 Mar 06 - A RAF Sea King from Lossiemouth, a S61N from Sumburgh and a Nimrod from Kinloss were tasked to assist in evacuating personnel from a fire on the Tern Oil Rig, 80 miles NE of Shetland. In total, 128 people were lifted from the rig. R51 acted as Airborne Co-ordinator and provided safety cover.

12 Mar 06 - A RN Sea King from Prestwick and a RAF Sea King from Lossiemouth were tasked to take a specialist medical team from Edinburgh to Lerwick, Shetland to evacuate a 12 year old boy with a serious medical condition. Battling severe gale force winds, R137 took the boy to Kinloss where a waiting air ambulance aircraft flew him to Edinburgh.

9 Mar 06 - A RAF Sea King from Boulmer was scrambled to assist the crew of a Cessna 150 who had become lost in the Scottish Borders. R131 located the aircraft near Berwick-Upon-Tweed and shepherded it towards a suitable airfield. The Cessna engine stalled due to fuel starvation and the aircraft made a forced landing near Holy Island, Northumbria. Both crew were taken to Boulmer by helicopter.

27 Feb 06 - A RAF Sea King from Lossiemouth was scrambled to assist a climber on Coire an t-Sneachda, Cairngorms. The aircraft was forced to land due to blizzard conditions and very high winds and a RAF Mountain Rescue team from Kinloss and the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue team continued with the rescue, battling appalling weather conditions and freezing temperatures.

22 Feb 06 - A RAF Sea King from Valley was scrambled to assist 6 adults and 3 children on Snowdon, Wales in sub-zero conditions at night. Assisted by Llanberis Mountain Rescue team, the helicopter crew took the casualties to Bangor Hospital.

16 Feb 06 - Three RAF Sea Kings (1 from Leconfield and 2 from Wattisham) were scrambled to assist the evacuation of a burning rig 17nm east of Withernsea. Two casualties were taken to Hull Royal Infirmary and the remaining evacuees were taken to safety on the mainland.

31 Jan 06 - A Coastguard S61N from Lee-on-Solent and a RAF Sea King from Chivenor were scrambled to assist the crew of a chemical tanker following a collision in the English Channel. R-IJ winched 12 of the crewman to safety while the St. Peter Port lifeboat took the remaining 10 to Guernsey. R169 maintained safety cover during the operation.

31 Dec 04 - A Nimrod from Kinloss was scrambled to provide top cover to a single-engined light aircraft in transit between Goose Bay and Eire on New years Eve. The aircraft experienced a fuel leak in the right wing and had only 50 gallons of fuel left when out at Longitude 30 West with a strong westerly wind. R51 escorted the aircraft to Shannon, from where the Irish Coastguard had launched a SAR helicopter. The aircraft managed to land safely at Shannon but ran out of fuel on the runway.

16 Aug 04 - Two RAF Sea Kings from Chivenor, three RN Sea Kings from Culdrose, one Sea King from St Mawgan and one Coastguard S61 from Portland were tasked to search for casualties following severe flooding in and around the town of Boscastle. Multiple assets were on scene including police, air ambulance and Coastguard helicopters. Casualties were stuck on roofs, in cars, in buildings and on areas around the riverbank. R169, R170, R193, R194, R195 and R180 undertook some incredibly heroic winching to rescue 91 casualties in total. Not only did the helicopter crews airlift numerous casualties from precarious situations but operated with limited communications.

2 Aug 2004 - Nimrod from Kinloss and a Sea King from Chivenor were scrambled following a 406MHz beacon detection 220nm SW of Eire. Communication by Falmouth Coast Guard confirmed that the transatlantic rowing boat 'Pink Lady' had sunk. All four crewmembers had abandoned the vessel and taken to a liferaft. R169 was stood down en-route to the incident location after a nearby Merchant vessel 'Scandinavian Reefer' recovered all four survivors and non required immediate medical assistance. R51 provided top cover for R169 and assisted Scandinavian Reefer in locating the liferaft.

Sep 2002 - Kinloss Nimrod was scrambled to search for the source of a dual frequency beacon. R51 located a dismasted yacht South of Iceland with 2 POB, one of whom was seriously injured. SAR helicopters from Iceland were requested, due to the position being outside the radius of action for a Sea King. Two further Nimrods eventually replaced the original to provide top cover for two USAF Seahawk helicopters from Iceland, which were refuelled by a Hercules tanker.

Feb 02 - A RAF Lossiemouth Sea King, a RAF Valley Sea King and two RAF Kinloss Nimrods were involved in the medrescue of the crew of a French fishing vessel. R51 was scrambled to investigate the source of a beacon from the French fishing vessel that did not respond to communications. R51 located the vessel and provided top cover while attempting to make contact. R52 later replaced R51 and provided top cover for R137, who medrescued the entire crew apart from the Captain who had been swept overboard the previous afternoon. R122 was scrambled in view of the number of casualties involved, but was not required and RTB. R137 took the casualties to Stornaway and RTB.

Mar 2001 - ARCC re-tasked a Canadian Aurora taking part in the JMC to search for the MV Hansar, a German registered vessel, after the EPIRB was detected and coastguards received a garbled mayday. R177 from Gannet and MU from Stornoway were scrambled. A Nimrod replaced the Aurora who had found a dinghy with his infra-red. Nine survivors were rescued and the search continued for the remaining 7 crew members, with R115 from Ireland assisting. The search was a prolonged affair but eventually one survivor was picked up by a fishing boat after 13 hours in the water, unfortunately, the other 6 were deceased.

Jan 1998 - A RAF Chivenor Sea King and 2 RAF Kinloss Nimrods were scambled to assist the Spanish fishing trawler Sonia Nancy. The vessel with 10 fishermen on board was sinking 200 miles south-west of Ireland in attrocious weather conditions. R51dropped Air-Sea Rescue liferafts and survival stores and monitored the situation until R169 arrived on scene. R169 winched all of the men to safety, the winchman sustaining injuries during the rescue. The first Nimrod on scene was struck by lightening but the crew elected to continue in the hope of saving the trawler crew and providing safety cover to the helicopter. Awards were made to the Sea King and Nimrod crews for their brave and determined efforts.

Sep 1986 - A Nimrod from RAF Kinloss launched to back up previous aircraft who had searched for a vessel believed sunk. Crew 1 found a dinghy that was sinking with 9 souls on board. A manual drop of search and rescue aparatus saw the remaining 5 crewmen successfully reach the new dinghies. Radar vectoring by the Nimrod then ensured a speedy rescue by a Danish Lynx, flown from a frigate which had scrambled from the Faroe Islands.



Key: 51: RAF Nimrod (Kinloss) | 122: RAF Sea King (Valley) | 125: RAF Sea King (Wattisham) | 128: RAF Sea King (Leconfield)
         131: Sea King (Boulmer) | 137: RAF Sea King (Lossiemouth) | 169: RAF Sea King (Chivenor) | 177: RN Sea King (Prestwick)
         180 RAF Sea King (St. Mawgan) | 193: RN Sea King (Culdrose) | OC: MCA S61 (Sumburgh) | MU: MCA S61 (Stornoway)
          WB: MCA S61 (Portland) | IJ: MCA S61(Lee-on-Solent)