Team Geared Up

Thanks to ‘diverman’ for submitting this link to the below press release.

CHC Ireland are soon to add another Sikorsky S.61N to their SAR fleet. As part of a small internal move, they are bringing one of their own S.61Ns out of storage at Stavangar in Norway and freeing up another example of the type enabling it to be returned to owners Bristow Helicopters. This will see the last S.61N removed from the Norwegian register after many years of solid North Sea service from the type, and it will transfer from its current registration LN-ORC to EI-GCE in Ireland.

The aircraft is currently in a program of extensive modification at Stavangar to bring it up to the full “AWSAR” (All-Weather SAR) specification required for the Irish SAR contract. The spare machine that it replaces is of a much lower equipment level known as “LIMSAR” (Limited SAR), which of particular note does not include full auto-hover capability. The contract stipulates a penalty when a LIMSAR aircraft is in use (eg. when an AWSAR one is on maintenance), hence this fleet move by CHC will avoid such penalties.

In May 2006, CHC announced that they had retained the Irish SAR contract for three years from July 2007, with a further three one-year extensions possible after that takign the potential end date to June 2013. As part of this new contract, the whole of the CHC Ireland S61N fleet will be going through a repaint, which will see “a lot more red and a lot less white”.

The new registration EI-GCE reflects the initials of “GARDA COSTA na hEIREANN” ie Irish Coast Guard in local language.

Good stuff!

Photo credit: Taken by author at Howth Peninsula Festival.