©Chris De Best.
The HM Coastguard presents the statistics on civilian SAR helicopters (SARH) activity in the United Kingdom until March 2023, based on details of taskings recorded by the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC).
- HM Coastguard SAR helicopters statistics for the year until March 2023:
- There were 2,580 civilian search and rescue helicopters (SARH) missions
- Prestwick helicopter base was the busiest of the 10 bases, responding to 396 SAR missions
- The HM Coastguard helicopter aircrews rescued 1,466 people and 527 people was assisted across all missions
There was a 6% decrease in taskings compared to the year ending March 2022. The majority of taskings were classified as rescue or recovery (1,316), followed by support (570), search (412) and pre-arranged transfers (282).
Background to the statistics
Search and rescue helicopters are on standby 24 hours a day to assist those in difficulty, both at sea and over land, as part of a wider search and rescue provision which includes maritime and land based operations. These statistics are collected to provide information on the number and type of SARH taskings.
From April 2015, the mix of military and civilian search and rescue capacity, managed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), began to transition to a single civilian contract. This is now managed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), with statistics on search and rescue helicopters (SARH) reported by the Department for Transport (DfT).
A completely separate statistical series has now been established by DfT, covering the civilian bases, from the point at which they opened. As part of the transition to the civilian contract, 2 new SARH bases were opened in April 2015; 2 in July 2015; 1 in October 2015 and 2 more in January 2016. Since July 2017, all SARH bases have been fully operational across the United Kingdom. The Portland base ceased operation after June 2017. Data is available for this base from its initial operation in April 2015 to its last operation in June 2017.
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