From early May, the South West coast of Scotland will see a new Coastguard search-and-rescue (SAR) helicopter in the skies.
The new Leonardo AW189 helicopter is the first of two AW189s that will operate from the Coastguard base at Prestwick Airport. It will spend the next few months flying in the area on training missions before it starts operational duties from July 2017.
SAR work at Prestwick will, in the meantime, continue to be fulfilled by two Coastguard Sikorsky S-92 helicopters, which have been stationed at Prestwick while the new AW189s were put through their paces.
“It is a huge privilege for my crews and I to introduce the new AW189 aircraft into search-and-rescue operations,” said Capt Craig Sweeney, chief pilot at Prestwick. “The aircraft is state-of-the-art and has the agility and flexibility to respond to the wide spectrum of search-and-rescue taskings within our operating area. As always, we will make every effort to minimize noise disturbance from our helicopters on the local community, but ask you to please bear with us during this short period while the crews undergo essential training on the new aircraft.”
The new AW189 helicopters will be registered as G-MCGT and G-MCGR and are operated by Bristow Helicopters Limited on behalf of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency.
