AT THE TIME of the London Boat Show last January a discussion was held on the shared task of lifesaving at sea by lifeboats and rotary wing aircraft. The helicopters of the Royal Navy were represented by Lt-Cdr Adrian Thomas, Commanding Officer Solent SAR Flight, HMS Daedalus, Lee-on-Solent, and the helicopters of the Royal Air Force by Sqn-Ldr Derek Whatling, at that time Officer Commanding 202 Squadron, RAF Finningley, Doncaster.

The RNLI's lifeboats were represented by Coxswain Matthew Lethbridge of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. Coxswain William Jones of Holyhead, Anglesey, and Coxswain David Kennett of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. They were all welcomed by Cdr George Cooper, RNLI deputy chief of operations, who opened the discussion: Cdr George Cooper, deputy chief of operations: While some services to people in distress at sea can best be effected by lifeboats and some by helicopters, there are many other services that could not be brought to a succesful conclusion without the active and understanding co-operation between the sea and air services. During 1983, such co-operation occurred in 496 services. Here are just a few examples of the way in which lifeboats and helicopters have helped each other in the past few years: on August 26, 1981, St Ives D class inflatable lifeboat and a helicopter from RNAS Culdrose worked together to retrieve a man who had fallen down a blow hole in the cliffs; it was a rescue which neither the helicopter nor the lifeboat could have achieved alone, but working together they were able to bring a difficult task to a successful conclusion. On October 18, 1981, the tug Vernicos Giorgos was dragging her anchors and remorselessly being driven on to rocks. St David's lifeboat, after taking off three men, could no longer reach the tug but she and the local Coastguard cliff rescue company illuminated the scene with searchlights while a helicopter from RAF Brawdy carried out an extremely skilful rescue of the remaining five men; there have been similar occasions when it has been the helicopter which has provided the illumination while the lifeboat made the rescue. There have been times when a helicopter has guided a lifeboat to a casualty; times when both have been taking part in a search for a missing boat or a man in the water; times when both services have been playing their part in a massive rescue operation such as when disaster struck the Fastnet Race fleet in 1979. But perhaps one of the best examples of a helicopter and a lifeboat working together was when the Icelandic coaster Tungufoss foundered off Land's End on September 19, 1981. A Sea King helicopter from RNAS Culdrose was first on the scene and, although her winchman was injured lifting off the first seaman, two more of the crew were successfully picked up by flying the lifting strop into their hands. When Sennen Cove lifeboat arrived she was able to snatch three men, one at a time, from two liferafts floated out on a line from the listing coaster's stern. That was an operation, however, that got progressively more difficult because the liferafts were full of water and there were fewer men each time to help heave them back to the ship. When two seamen missed their footing and fell into the sea, Coxswain/Mechanic Maurice Hutchens, aided by the lights of the helicopter, was able to retrieve them both from the water. Tungufoss's list was increasing all the time. Coxswain Hutchens managed to get the lifeboat close enough for two more men to slide down and jump to safety. As the coaster finally turned over on to her beam ends, just the master was left on board, the sea already starting to engulf him. While the lifeboat was driven in over the sinking vessel, the Sea King moved in ahead, flew her lifting strop within reach of the waiting master and lifted him clear. Talking later, Coxswain Hutchens said, 'The last man off, the skipper . . . if it hadn't been for the helicopter I have got an awful feeling he would have been sucked under with her.

You know, there is a lot of suction with these vessels'. Coxswain Hutchens also spoke of the close understanding there had been between the helicopter and lifeboat, even though they had no direct radio communication.

That is a fine example of co-operation and sympathetic understanding and perhaps makes a good introduction to our discussion this morning. But let us go back to the beginning. Squadron Leader, could you tell us something of the history of the growth of the search and rescue role of the helicopter? Sqn-Ldr Derek Whatling, OC 202 Squadron, RAF Finningley: Helicopter design goes back, theoretically, to Leonardo da Vinci, although I am not totally convinced that he understood about these things! The first practical application of helicopters began just before the last war. That was when Hanna Reitsch demonstrated the flexibility of the helicopter by flying an early type in the Berlin Stadium. The first recorded sea rescue by a helicopter was also just before the war. It was off Long Island. Some people had been hanging on to a barge through the night when there was a sort of clatter of rotor blades and an experimental helicopter —an R4 I think it was—arrived from an American research establishment, lowered a strop and hauled the people to safety one at a time. So that is where the helicopter's lifesaving role started.

The Royal Navy, I believe, were the first in the UK to make practical use of the helicopter. They saw it not only as a replacement for the "plane guard' destroyer stationed off aircraft carriers, but also as a way to hunt their arch enemy, the submarine.

Lt-Cdr Adrian Thomas, CO Solent SAR Flight, HMS Daedalus: That's right. The danger of launching and recovering fixed wing aircraft was one of the main problems in the early days of aircraft carriers. There always had to be a ship stationed off the port quarter of the carrier as "plane guard' ready to pick up the crews of these early aircraft, which regularly fell over the side. When the helicopter was being developed it was recognised as an obvious cheap replacement for the destroyer; it could just hover off the port quarter. The Dragonfly, the Whirlwind and eventually the Wessex helicopters were all used in this way. Right up to her last days, HMS Ark Royal still had a Wessex SAR flight on board.

Development for operational and search and rescue work went hand in hand. The helicopter had obvious potential as an anti-submarine vehicle, but because it was reasonably cheap and easy to put a rescue hoist on every naval helicopter, it evolved naturally as a search and rescue vehicle as well. The first SAR flights were based on Culdrose.

Then the RAF started to form rescue flights and RAF or naval helicopters were stationed around the country.

Cooper: Matt, one of the famous services in which both lifeboats and helicopters took part was to Torrey Canyon in 1967, down in the West Country.

You were heavily involved, weren't you? Would you tell us something of your experience on that rescue? Coxswain Matthew Lethbridge, St Mary's: Torrey Canyon was the biggest tanker afloat at that time. I think it was said at the inquiry that she had altered course to avoid some fishing boats up at the Seven Stones and she hit the reef at about 17 knots. We got a call a little after nine in the morning, as soon as she went ashore, and we were the first boat to reach her. Then Stella, the Trinity House tender, came down and the choppers—they would have been Whirlwinds—arrived and also a tug. We picked two men off the tug and put them aboard the tanker because at first they didn't intend to abandon Torrey Canyon. I think they thought she might come off, but at 17 knots with a full cargo there wasn't really much chance of that. One of the choppers landed on her foredeck that morning, but no one was taken off. Later in the day we took off 14 men and put them aboard Stella, because the forecast was poor. Then we came back and stood by for the rest of the day and that night.

The following morning the forecast was for strong to gale force winds from the east, so it was decided to take off more of Torrey Canyon's crew. We took off eight. We were made fast with a forward rope and I was working the lifeboat with the engines. There was quite a bit of rise and fall, about 15 feet I should say, and as she came up on the big ones, just level with the deck, the men were jumping off on to our rope box. Well, eventually, it always happens.

You get someone who doesn't know whether he wants to go or not.

The ninth man changed his mind at the last minute and then found that it was too late. Of course he came over and he went down between us and Torrey Canyon. As soon as I saw him, my heart just went, because he might have been killed. I thought, 'This is it!' I shouted to the bowman to let go and rammed her astern. She came astern, but the next wave coming in threw her in against Torrey Canyon and we heard the belting go crash. Then the boys shouted, 'He's all right!' We cleared him and got him aboard, but no more of the men would come off. They said, Wo fear. We'll have a helicopter!' So one helicopter took off five men and the other four more. There were still the master and five of the crew on board and either we or Penlee lifeboat stood by until the next day.

Cooper: There were two helicopters? Thomas: I don't think the Whirlwind would have had the capacity to lift off nine men in one go. Lethbridge: And in those days they used to send two helicopters anyway, one to cover the other. Lots of times they would send out a lifeboat to cover a helicopter.

Thomas: Certainly in the early days of the Whirlwind you really needed cover, just in case the aircraft ditched in the water.

Lethbridge: We have often launched because a helicopter has gone out to pick up a sick man from a merchant ship. We have steamed off towards him just as a precaution.

Cooper: A Wessex helicopter would have had no trouble lifting nine and landing them, so close to shore. Thomas: No, even though the first SAR Wessex, the Mark 1, only had a single engine. Now that we have got the Wessex Mk 5 and the RAF the Wessex Mk 2, which is similar, both twin engined, they have even greater lifting capacity.

Cooper: You have both flown Whirlwinds.

What were they like? Whatling: Whirlwinds. Well, I joined an RAF search and rescue flight in about 1971 after an exchange tour with the Navy, where I had been flying Wessex 5s. My first reaction when faced with this rather small, underpowered, tender-looking helicopter was one of a little apprehension. The Whirlwind looked very spindly. To my mind, there was not a lot of power. But then people who had flown Sycamores or Dragonflies would have told me, 'There's masses of power'. It is all relative. However, we overcame that. Both the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force operated these aircraft very successfully. The Whirlwind was a handful in strong winds.

Sometimes we had to start them up in the hangar to avoid the phenomenon known as blade sailing, which could cause the rotor blades to come very close to the ground.

The advent of the Wessex gave a lift capability of about ten people, from the old three or four of the Whirlwind, depending on how far away the casualty was. Speed was marginally improved.

The old Whirlwind did about 95 knots.

Flat out, a Wessex does about 120 knots; she is probably capable of a little more. With weight aboard she can do about 110. But you never get 'owt for nowt'. On the debit side, with two engines to start the Wessex takes margi-nally longer to scramble. When I was flying Whirlwinds at Thorney Island, from the time the bells went in the crewroom to airborne, you were slack if you didn't make 90 seconds. It may be different now, but when I was flying a Wessex, I would think myself lucky to make it in better than three minutes.

Thomas: Three minutes is a reasonable time for scramble from the bells going.

People have got airborne in two minutes in a Wessex, but everything has got to be going for you.

Cooper: What about range? Whatling: For the Whirlwind we used to say 90 miles out and back. But everything would have to be just right to achieve that. The casualty would have to be ready, a one-shot pick up and then straight back.

Cooper: And the Wessex? Thomas: Well, you can say 2Vz hours at 100 knots, so about 100 miles out, 30 minutes for searching or picking up, and then 100 miles back.

Cooper: So that is a marked improvement, and with two engines. Now we come to Sea Kings.

Thomas: The Sea King is a bigger aircraft with a lot more avionics, so it takes longer again to take off. A good practical time for a Sea King is probably five or six minutes.

Cooper: And what range? Whatling: The yellow SAR Sea King, Mk 3, has about 6,500 Ibs of fuel and we burn about 1,000 Ibs an hour. So, about 300 miles out, 300 miles back, with about half an hour for search or pick up.

Cooper: It sounds very much, gentlemen, as though you can compare the Whirlwind with some of the earlier lifeboats, and the Sea King with some of the more modern boats in respect of running costs. The running cost of a Sea King must be very high.

Whatling: On a practical day-to-day basis, fuel and oil, I should think you are looking at about £1,000 per hour.

Cooper: I seem to remember someone at RAF Valley telling me that you need about 2.2 helicopters to keep one in the air, taking maintenance into account.

Thomas: Yes, maintenance takes time and if you are going to keep one helicopter available full time, then you have got to have a spare to keep in the hangar.

Cooper: Just as we have to have a relief fleet to maintain the station boats on service.

Lethbridge: Do you get a very big saving in fuel when you are hovering rather than flying ahead? We get a big saving if we cut down the revs.

Thomas: If you go into hover, then you tend to use more fuel than if you are cruising. You gain lift by going forward so reduce the power required in forward flight. If we need to loiter, perhaps to wait for a lifeboat to come out, we fly around between 60 and 70 knots; that is our best speed for saving fuel.

Cooper: Dave, working out of Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, you have obviously clocked up many hours of exercise and service time with naval SAR helicopters. What services stand out in your memory? Coxswain David Kennett, Yarmouth: There was one particular service we did a few months ago: a night time lift. The captain of a tanker about 14 miles south of the island had a heart attack. We took out a doctor and he was transferred by helicopter about five miles south of the island. It was the first time we have transferred at night in that way and it went very well. We had the searchlight directed straight ahead, illuminating the flag man up forward; we illuminated the side decks, the length of the boat, with the Aldis lamp; all the deck lights were fully on, and it was a very, very quick operation. The pilot did extremely well. I stayed on a steady course and before I knew it the doctor had been picked up. It was a very successful transfer.

Thomas: That was one of my pilots from HMS Daedalus, and the service continued well. The doctor was lowered on to the ship and diagnosed a serious condition. Even so, the captain refused to leave his ship until a company signal came down saying: 'You are relieved by your first officer'. He was then flown to Haslar.

Cooper: Is there any advice we can give to doctors, who are the people most likely to be called from their beds, put on board a lifeboat, lifted into a helicopter and transferred to a casualty? Thomas: Make sure his medical bag is strong so that there is no possibility of it falling apart during the transfer. That has happened.

Whatling: Generally people who are most likely to be winched are survivors, so we look upon everyone that way. We try to do everything for them. We assume nothing from them. You would agree with that, Adrian? Thomas: Yes.

Lethbridge: You are sending the doctor down; we are usually sending him up. If we are transferring a doctor to a ship we tell him, 'Just do what you are told', and it is like him telling us what to do when we are his patients. As long as he does what he is told do, it works all right. We send the bag up separately.

Cooper: And presumably we can help with a night transfer by shining a steady light right ahead? Whatling: Anything you can do to illuminate your boat makes our life a lot easier. However, the thing that loses more friends more quickly than anything else is shining a light in the eyes of the pilot! Cooper: I hope that message will be received by all our readers! Will—I should like to call you Will Bach, as you are known throughout Anglesey—I know from the time I was in the west division that you have spent many hours exercising and carrying out rescues with the SAR Flight at RAF Valley. Tell us about some of your interesting services.

Coxswain William Jones, Holyhead: As you say, we have been very involved with helicopters from Valley. For one thing, if we are not sure of the casualty's position, they are always there to guide us, not only in the day but at night as well. About five years ago, we both went out to a yacht in trouble about 20 miles off. It was blowing quite hard.

Obviously the helicopter reached the search area quicker than we did and he took a woman off. But the man in the yacht only had one leg and he would not chance being lifted by the helicopter, so we took him off. All in all, I think we do quite well with the helicopters.

Cooper: Is it easy for you to get exercise with them? Jones: Oh yes. They are very, very good with us. If we get in touch with the Squadron giving them a couple of hours notice, they will be there for an exercise.

They tell us a course to steer, just 30 degrees off the wind. With the Arun, depending on the strength of the wind, I find that the ideal speed for working with helicopters is about 8 to 10 knots.

The helicopter can then hover over the stern, head to wind, and effect the transfer. Of course, when working with a helicopter we always switch the rotating radar scanner off; that is standard RNLI procedure. Our only difficulty is voice communication. Pilots, or whoever is on the radio, have been trained to do a certain service job of communications.

Now, I think that they tend to forget that they are dealing with civilians, and we have our own system of VHP work.

Cooper: Are we talking of jargon? Jones: Yes.

Whatling: It is simply that there are two ways of operating: the maritime way and the aeronautical way. Aircrew tend to use a radio like a telephone: press the key, say what we want to say and then stop saying it. The words we use are almost inevitably jargon, just as to us on the aeronautical side, the words you use might well be jargon.

Kennett: We have no problems at all, I am pleased to say. We try to get to know the pilots and crew members. We are friends with them and we talk to them a lot about procedures. And we are fortunate simply because we work together a great deal. We go out nearly every Sunday, and on any Sunday we might do perhaps one lift, perhaps five or six. Initially I tell the second coxswain or one of the crew members who is on the radio down below what the plan of attack is and then leave him to communicate. That is all that happens. I just take on or take off personnel as necessary. We find that it works very well. I hope you agree, Adrian.

Cooper: Well, it has been said in certain circles that the light blue tend to walk differently from the dark blue, but do you think they speak differently, Adrian? Thomas: Not essentially, no. There has been one general problem with communications which will improve. For years helicopters have used a throat microphone—two pads on the throat— and it does make your voice come out a little oddly; it is clear once you are used to it. I am not sure how you are progressing in the RAF, Derek, but we in the Navy are changing to boom microphones, which are a lot better.

Lethbridge: Down our way you can get 14 or 15 fishing boats out, all chatting to each other, and there is no argument about who it is, or what they want or what they are saying. It just runs through with no trouble. But I think if you had 14 or 15 helicopters and lifeboats you would get as unholy a mess as ever there was! But I agree with Dave.

When I am talking with helicopters, whether they are Air Force or Navy, I never have a problem in understanding them. It is the noise which I find is the problem. Dave, Will and I have all got Aruns. When you are up on the flying bridge and the helicopter gets really close to you, it is very difficult to hear each other. You cannot hear what they are saying because of the noise of their engines and rotors, and the noise going back through your microphone prevents the helicopter from hearing what you are saying. You can tell your crew member on the radio down in the wheelhouse what to say, and he can talk with the helicopter, but the coxswain on the bridge cannot hear what his man down below is trying to tell him.

Whatling: The RAF marine craft have a similar problem. They are getting over it with a headset and microphone which can be plugged in up on the bridge. The radio work is done in the wheelhouse but the man on the bridge can listen in and jump in with the transmitting key if necessary.

Cooper: We, too, are experimenting with boom microphones and headsets so that every man can be plugged in, at each seat, to the intercom. Prototype equipment has been fitted into one lifeboat and work on a second is under way.

But let's move on to exercising. As you all know, lifeboats carry a green and a red helicopter flag. A lifeboatman stands in the bow, in a prominent position; he holds up the green flag for all clear, come in; he holds up the red flag as a wave off signal. My experience is that the RAF do not really require these flags to be used, whereas the Navy tends to favour them.

Jones: When these flags first came out we did start to use them, but after a while we found that the RAF pilots with whom we work did not require them.

The pilot has his winchman to guide him on to the deck. As long as the lifeboat is kept on the course requested and maintains a certain speed, I think the pilots are quite happy.

Kennett: We work with the Navy and we use the flags. The Arun has quite a large wake. You might be on a long trip up the Solent when, if a helicopter plans to come in, you need to turn on to another heading, perhaps towards the land. When you turn, you have got to get rid of this enormous wake and the helicopter pilot might not be able to see when you are ready. By using these flags you can tell him when the roll of the boat is going to be down and you are ready for winching. Thomas: One of the reasons why we use flags and perhaps the Air Force do not is because we are used to using red and green wands, or flags, on our ships. If you have got good direct radio communication, you do not need flags. But when you are hovering over a lifeboat, as we have already discussed, you cannot always use the radio because of the noise. If the coxswain needs to change course to avoid another boat, or if he knows there is shallow water up ahead and the pilot does not, how is he going to tell the helicopter that he wants to finish winching for the time being? Obvious. The red flag comes up. The pilot sees the red flag, finishes winching and clears off. When he sees the green flag, he can come and start again.

Whatling: Flags have their uses and what has been said is totally valid, but we tend not to use flags because if we are going to a normal operational job, we do not expect a distressed seaman to show us the green or the red flag. So I expect our guys to be trained in a realistic situation.

Lethbridge: We use the flags on practice, but not on service. I can see Dave's problem, in the Solent, when he might be heading for land, but I feel that the main thing is to make sure, before you start the operation, that you are on a course where you are not going to get any interference; make sure that you have got bags of sea room. If it is bad weather, it might be 20 minutes before the helicopter can get the doctor, or whoever it is, off. The other important thing is that we understand each other, isn't it? Cooper: So far we have been talking mostly about 52ft Aruns and other large lifeboats. With small rigid inflatable or inflatable lifeboats there are three basic methods of taking position ready for a lift off: the inflatable lifeboat can maintain course and speed while the helicopter takes position over her; the lifeboat can come in on the helicopter's wire; or the lifeboat can lie dead ship with the sea anchor streamed. Will, what is your experience with inflatables? Jones: When I was young enough to be in the inflatable boat we were instructed to travel at about 12 to 15 knots and come up under the helicopter, which was maintaining a specified speed. I found that driving at a fair speed you could control your inflatable boat well.

Thomas: In the Solent, both with the small RNLI lifeboats and those of other voluntary rescue organisations, we favour the boat coming up to the strop and doing the work of holding position, if only because the boat is so small that the pilot cannot actually see her. Trying to take position at speed on something you cannot see is quite tricky! Kennett: Yes. We try to co-ordinate the rescue boats around us and we find that if they steam up to the helicopter there is no problem at all. If the helicopter tries to hover over an inflatable boat, the boat becomes unstable; it is just not practical.

Whatling: From the helicopters's point of view, I agree with you totally. It is infinitely easier if we can just cruise along gently and let the inflatable boat do the work; she is a very manoeuvrable beast. If the lifeboat can do the work it is quicker and more efficient, but, as you said, George, there are three ways and we all ought to be practised in all three ways.

Cooper: Yes. The casualty who has to be transferred may be injured, or frightened at least, and driving in on the helicopter, even in slight seas, can be quite a harrowing experience; and the man can be subjected to quite a buffeting.

So there are times when it is better for the inflatable lifeboat to keep a steady course and the helicopter to come in on her. It is all teamwork, and the better we know the people in the other arms of the rescue service— coastguards, pilots, lifeboatmen—the better we can all work together. Dave, you have already touched on the good social liaison Yarmouth has with the airmen at Lee-on-Solent and, I believe, you have a very good Christmas party.

What about you and RAF Valley, Will? Jones: We get on very, very well with them. Occasionally they invite us to Valley and sometimes they come down to our local pub. They join us on New Year's Day, and then in the summer we have a festival in which all the rescue services take part: the coastguards, the helicopters, the police, the ambulance, the fire service. It is valuable training and it is also great fun.

Cooper: Matt, you are a little bit away from the mainland. Do you get the opportunity to meet aircrews socially? Lethbridge: Not very often. Occasionally the helicopter crews will come down for the day, or if we go to the mainland we are always invited to go to Culdrose.

But, whenever we do meet, we always get on very well with the blokes both from the Air Force and from the Navy.

Cooper: At Finningley I suppose you are a little bit out of the main coastal stream, Derek? Whatling: At Finningley we don't actually operate terribly much! But I still have memories of getting together with lifeboatmen while I was at Thorney Island and later at Lossiemouth. Meetings go on all around the coast.

Lethbridge: Just a point about cooperation.

When we were out to Torrey Canyon that morning, one chopper told us that they had come away without any breakfast. We used to carry a tin of biscuits and chocolate. 'Come over and we will send you up some', we said. So they came over and we sent up this tin of biscuits. And then we were there for about 30 hours without any grub! You can't get better co-operation than that, can you? Cooper: It is always very satisfying from an inspector's point of view if you take a new lifeboat crew member to sea and organise his first helicopter lift, because after he has had a ride in a helicopter you can see that he has got one ambition: to get ashore as quickly as possible to tell his mum or his wife about it.

think most lifeboatmen enjoy the occasional lifts they have as part of their training. Do you ever take aircrew out on exercise with you, Will, just to let them see the lifeboat, without any helicopter in attendance? Jones: Yes, oh yes.

Lethbridge: I have often wondered whether chopper pilots can actually gauge the amount of rise and fall of the swell.

Thomas: With experience you can but it is not easy for the pilot. The crewman in the back, who is looking down on the sea, can get a better idea.

Lethbridge: I fly back and forwards from the islands in what is of course a Sea King and I have noticed myself that the sea looks a lot different from up there than it does from down below. I wondered if it would be a help in bad weather for us to tell you the range of the rise and fall? Thomas: Information of that sort from the lifeboat can only help.

Lethbridge: When the BA helicopter crashed off the Scilly Islands last year we had another interesting instance of co-operation. The fog was really thick.

We could hear the Sea King that came up from Culdrose, but they couldn't see us. I talked to him on the wireless and we actually talked him in over us until he could see us. It was a matter of saying, 'You are to westward of us', or 'Turn to port', or something like that.

Just listening to the sound you could guide him to find you, even in the fog. Whatling: Just one other point. Aircrews, whether they are RN or RAF, all move. Your lifeboatmen stay in one place for a very long period of time and they have a much greater fund of local knowledge than we will ever pick up. So any help is worth the transmitting time, it really is.

Thomas: That is very true, and a very worthwhile point.

Cooper: It is absolutely true. How long have you been involved at your station, Matt? All your life? Lethbridge: Well, yes. Permanently since 1946.

Cooper: Now I don't think we could have a discussion about helicopters without mentioning static. Tell us about static, Commander.

Thomas: Helicopters in flight build up a large static charge of electricity. With normal operations it is no problem because as soon as the aircraft lands it discharges to earth through the wheels or the skids. The problem comes when doing any sort of winching operation. If a helicopter comes into hover over ship and lowers the rescue strop, and if somebody standing on the deck grabs that strop, the static that has built up will discharge through that person, and it can be a very healthy belt indeed . . .

Whatling: And quite unhealthy . . .

Thomas: The thing to bear in mind is that it is almost always possible to allow the static to discharge first. The helicopter crews are well aware of this and will usually discharge the static from a strop by putting it into the water or on to the deck of the ship before anybody gets hold of it. But if the crew of the boat are a little too enthusiastic and rush up to grab the strop before it has touched the deck, then the problem is there.

Cooper: Will, how do you train your young crew members to avoid the effects of static? Jones: First of all I let them have it! That teaches them not to be so keen! Then we explain what static is. We usually throw a line on to the cable. You have only got to touch it with a rope, or something like that, and there is no problem.

Kennett: We just give them a flick as soon as they come down. That is good enough.

Cooper: The playful winchman coming down to an inflatable lifeboat who puts boot on your head can cause a certain amount of amusement, or, as you say, a rather healthy shock! Now, Squadron Leader, take us through the horrors of static from Sea Kings.

Whatling: When we started operating Sea Kings some years ago, we operated them in exactly the same way so far as static is concerned as a Wessex. And our crew members came back having had shock, after shock, after shock and saying, 'This is nothing like a Wessex.

What's gone wrong?' We tried to find a solution, but it all came to a head when we really injured a crew member quite noticeably. The Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough expended considerable effort on the problem and the RAF (though not, I think, the Navy) now puts static discharge wicks on all the blades. That has brought the shock down to that of a Wessex. So we have got round that one, I think.

Lethbridge: It is awfully hard not to help the winchman if you see him coming down, isn't it? I mean, when you are in the boat and you see a bloke is going to hit the rail or something like that, it's a hell of a job to stop yourself grabbing hold of him. Let's face it, you either get a shock or he might get injured.

Whatling: We still give our winchmen a piece of old winch wire which hooks on the winch hook and dangles about two feet below him, so that the whole lot is earthed before he touches ground— providing he hasn't had to fend off a fishing boat's mast, or something like that.

Cooper: I can assure you, from a lifeboat point of view, Sea King winchmen and wires and earthing wires are treated with the utmost respect, whereas it is not quite so bad with a Wessex. Well, gentlemen, our time this morning is running out. What the future holds in store in terms of helicopter and lifeboat development, who can say. The RNLI intends to go on for ever and I am sure I speak for all our coxswains and crews when I say that I hope we never reach the day when we will not hear the friendly clatter of a helicopter's rotors overhead in training exercises, because I think we are all agreed that there are occasions when helicopters cannot operate when lifeboats can, and there are also occasions when the reverse is true. What is perhaps even more important, there are occasions when we neither of us could work successfully without the other. So, thank you all for coming.

Before we close our discussion and go our several ways, in recognition of all the support that the helicopters of both the Royal Naval and the Royal Air Force give us, and your ready cooperation in training, may I give you each an RNLI wall plaque which reads, 'With grateful thanks'; we hope, Commander, that you can display yours in a suitable place at Lee-on-Solent, and you, Squadron Leader, at Finningley..