Coastguard introduces AW189 to Prestwick
HM Coastguard Search and Rescue (SAR) has introduced two new AgustaWestland 189s at its Prestwick base.
The AW189s are outfitted in a SAR configuration and feature the red and white coastguard livery. The list price for one helicopter is £20 million ($26 million).
The helicopters feature full icing protection, radar, auto hover, night vision systems and infra-red cameras, and are capable of a 165-knot max speed over four hours’ endurance. Both aircraft are operated by Bristow Helicopters on behalf of the Coastguard.
The S-92s stationed at Prestwick were utilised as a contingency solution, pending the arrival of the AW189s. Bristow plans to operate 11 SAR Sikorsky S-92s and 11 AW189s on behalf of the Maritime Coastguard Agency by the end of next year.
Russell Torbet, director of UK SAR at Bristow Helicopters, said: “We are very pleased to introduce the AW189 SAR aircraft to the Prestwick operation. I have been incredibly impressed by the ethos of our crews and engineers, who have been working very hard to transition the Prestwick base from the S-92 to the AW189, and want to take this opportunity to thank them all.”
The Prestwick base opened January 2017, flying a fleet two S-92s, and has responded to more than 500 calls so far. This makes Prestwick one of the busiest HM Coastguard bases in the UK.
“This base has just reached the 500 taskings mark since going live on 1 January 2016, which shows how active this location is. In addition to that, we have been busy moving teams away to train onto the AW189 while backfilling those with our S-92 and AW189 transition teams, who have been doing a sterling job supporting the operation,” Torbet added.
More to come
This is the second UK coastguard base to introduce the AW189 into its fleet. The Lee-on-Solent base introduced two aircraft in March. These were the first AW189 SAR helicopters operating in the UK.
Bristow is looking to replace its St Athan, Inverness and Lydd fleets with new AW189 orders. The coastguard’s St Athan base will be replacing its two AW139s with two AW189s in October this year, the Lydd base in March 2018, and Inverness will be replacing its S-92 fleet in October 2018.
The coastguard’s helicopter fleet renewal plan was established in 2015 after a £1.9 billion, 10-year investment contract from the UK government to Bristow.
Bristow was awarded the contract to deliver SAR operations for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in 2013. It has taken over seven out of ten civilian SAR bases from the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy
