Maritime Rescue: Civil helicopters are increasingly vital for offshore SAR and medevac support

Written By Jen Boyer | Retrieved from Vertical Magazine

Over the past 20 years, civil helicopter operators have become increasingly integral in offshore search-and-rescue (SAR) and medevac support for government agencies, militaries, and offshore energy companies. The reasons for the shift to private provision vary depending on the contracting entity, ranging from updated regulations to limited government assets.

The contracts themselves are also diverse. They range from daytime SAR with medevac support to 24/7 full all-weather day and night onshore and offshore SAR and medevac, using some of the world’s most sophisticated aircraft and onboard equipment.

Regardless of mission scope or the reason they were created, these contracts all share a single goal — increasing the safety, survival, and wellbeing of those working in and travelling across open water environments.

Protection for a Nation

The United Nations and the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue requires member nations to provide a
specified level of SAR capability in national waters. Many nations use helicopters in their national SAR programs, which are typically conducted by government entities such as militaries and coast guards. The provision of that duty is now shifting toward civilian operators.

The United Kingdom (U.K.) Royal Navy and Royal Air Force used to provide SAR support throughout the country and its waters with 1960s-era Westland Sea King HAR3 helicopters. It began contracting out all helicopter SAR support in 2013. Bristow Helicopters Ltd. was awarded a 10-year contract (SAR-H), which commenced in 2015, and subsequently won the next generation of that contract (UKSAR2G) in 2022 (and this began in 2024).

“The first contract was designed from a military requirements point of view, which included being able to rescue up to 19 people in the same operation and have a 300-mile [480-kilometer] range,” said Neil Ebberson, director of government services at Bristow Helicopters Ltd. “Using data from that first contract, the UKSAR2G contract requirements were modified to better reflect the operational demand. For instance, there were only three rescues of more than 15 people in 10 years, which led to a reduction in the number of larger aircraft and adding more diversity with an additional helicopter type, fixed-wing aircraft, and UAS.”

In delivering the UKSAR2G contract, Bristow will operate three Sikorsky S-92s (down from 10 in the first contract), nine Leonardo AW189s (the same as previously), and add six AW139s, all on 24/7/365 all-weather standby with a 15-minute launch window from a call. Each is equipped for full medevac and SAR with dual winches, weather radar, night vision instrument systems (NVIS), four-axis autopilot and auto hover, forward-looking infrared (FLIR), spotlight, and advanced communications systems. In addition, Bristow added fixed-wing aircraft through a subcontractor and UAS services, increasing the operator’s mission profile to include supporting HM Coastguard’s broader situational awareness demands, including monitoring shipping and fishing fleets.

Under UKSAR2G, Bristow’s S-92s will operate from Newquay in Southwest England and Humberside on England’s east coast to ensure coverage for long-range oil-and-gas activities. The AW189s operate throughout Scotland, while the AW139s, which deliver speed and agility over range, are based across England and Wales and perform most of the country’s mountain rescue operations.

Onboard crews include two pilots, a hoist operator, and hoist paramedic. In the summers they fly a collective 360 missions a month, while winters are closer to 160 monthly missions due to less tourist and climbing-related incidents, pleasure boating accidents, and cruise-ship medevac related missions.

Bristow is expanding its government operations this year, having taken over Irish Coast Guard SAR missions with six AW189s in October, providing the same onshore and offshore 24/7/365 missions for the Irish government as they do in the U.K. The company also holds similar SAR support contracts in Belgium, the Falkland Islands, the Dutch Caribbean, and the Netherlands.

Avincis has a similar responsibility in Spain for the country’s Maritime Safety and Rescue Society (SASEMAR). With a recently renewed five-year contract, the operator provides comprehensive all-weather 24/7/365 SAR along the coast of Spain, including the Canary and Balearic Islands. For this, it uses 13 AW139s and two Airbus H225 helicopters. In Italy, it contracts with a regional government to provide a SAR and HEMS hybrid operation in the Italian Alps.

For its SASEMAR contract, Avincis’s most common missions are searching for missing people and vessels and performing medevac off ships, said Avincis Group chief commercial officer Simon Tye. Its aircraft are similarly equipped to those used for coast guard operations around Europe. This includes mission management systems and comprehensive medical capabilities with a crew of two pilots, a hoist operator, and a hoist paramedic.

While many government SAR contract crew requirements are similar, crew composition can change depending on the contract.

“Each region will have its own requirements for crew,” Tye explained. “In the Netherlands, there are five main cabin crewmembers that include a doctor. In Norway, there are sometimes six, adding a cabin assistant. It’s all dependent on the rules and requirements for the region.”

Offshore Oil-and-Gas Support

At any one time, there can be hundreds or even thousands of people working offshore in an individual oil-and-gas field. Tantamount to a small town, this isolated community is reliant on mainland support for everything from food and supplies to medical attention. And like any small town, these communities experience everyday health emergencies that require medical transport.

Recognizing the need for support, energy exploration and production companies in the last quarter of a century have moved toward ensuring dedicated medevac services are available for their employees when not provided by the government. Sometimes this is dictated by independent offshore health and safety organizations. In other instances, the companies themselves take the initiative, adding a dedicated SAR aircraft requirement to crew transport contracts.

Omni Helicopters International operates an S-92 (and previously an AW139) for SAR in Guyana, South America, for a United States-based international oil company (IOC) as a part of its crew transport contract. It stipulates a dedicated daytime SAR helicopter be included with the range to reach across its more than 200-mile (320-kilometer) oil exploration radius. Before the contract, no aerial offshore SAR capabilities existed in Guyana.

Omni began the contract in 2023 with an AW139, adding a specially-equipped S-92 a few months later. Both aircraft are equipped for medevac and SAR operations with dual hoists, onboard medical equipment, and a range of connectivity technology. This includes automated flight following and mission management, medical data transfer, and cockpit and cabin satellite connectivity. The S-92 is the primary aircraft, while the AW139 serves as a backup.

“Thankfully, the operations for our client have been entirely medevac related,” Omni Helicopters International global SAR manager Scott Davidson said. “With more than 2,000 people offshore at any one time, there is bound to be a health issue that requires attention. Our more common medevacs are cardiac events, chest pain, etc. with minor issues like cuts, broken bones, and the like often treated onboard the platform.”

While the helicopters are contracted to the IOC, they have also been deployed for the government of Guyana, a common arrangement for IOC-contracted aircraft. In December 2023, both helicopters responded to a Guyana Defence Force Bell 412 crash, successfully inserting rescue personnel before weather closed in, returning the next day to extract the team and survivors.

“While the helicopter has a primary role as a SAR aircraft, we’ve learned you can bring the community around having SAR and medevac aircraft available to them,” Davidson added. “Being able to serve the community where we operate is very important.”

Cougar Helicopters provides a similar SAR service — in addition to crew transport — for a consortium of three IOCs performing oil exploration between 172 and 245 nautical miles (320 to 450 kilometers) offshore from St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador. Operating one dedicated S-92 configured for SAR, with the ability to reconfigure one of its other transport S-92s for SAR and medevac if required, the company provides 24/7/365 all-weather day and night SAR. It will launch within 20 minutes of a call during the day and within 45 minutes if passenger flights are completed for the day.

The S-92 is equipped to operate in the harsh North Atlantic with dual rescues hoists, FLIR, searchlight, aux fuel tanks, NVIS for night vision goggle (NVG) operations, anti-icing, and advanced autopilot for precision hovering. Cougar crews its aircraft with two pilots, a hoist operator, and two paramedic-trained rescue swimmers.

Cougar performs mostly medevac calls from customer rigs and vessels with only a very small percentage of its operations being SAR. When not supporting its IOC customers and crew transport aircraft, it has also responded to rescue calls throughout the area when needed and authorized by the primary IOC customers.

“The government’s SAR helicopter is situated in Gander,” said J.J. Gerber, operations manager at Cougar Helicopters Inc. “They are the search-and-rescue authority for the oceans and waters, but they are at least a 45-minute flight away from St. John’s where we are based. We will respond right away and are the first on scene to start helping however we can, since we can search, rescue, hoist, NVG, what have you. But the government remains actual authority on SAR in those situations.”

A Global Provision

PHI’s Asia Pacific (APAC) operations have expanded in recent years, including offshore SAR components. The company currently provides SAR services utilizing S-92s for either day-only rescue, or all-weather day and night to support hundreds of personnel working on offshore oil-and-gas installations off the coast of Australia for several IOCs. Operating from three remote bases — Broome, Darwin, and Exmouth — the aircraft are configured for 24/7/365 SAR and medevac operations up to 300 nautical miles (555 kilometers) offshore. When not supporting the IOCs, the aircraft have been valuable in supporting medevacs from other vessels, including merchant and cruise ships, as well as searches and other inland emergencies.

Since it commenced SAR operations in Australia in 2017, PHI has not had to use its SAR capabilities to respond for its primary clients. Like others, the only operations have been medevac. The SAR capabilities, however, are a valuable asset to the country.

“In Australia, the vast majority of the country isn’t covered by a dedicated rescue helicopter service.” said Gordon Watt, PHI’s APAC division’s vice president of commercial and business development. “Wherever we are, we become a valuable capability for the local community. We are often called in to help the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in rescues and airlifts.”

PHI’s aircraft have conducted a number of rescues that would have gone differently if the helicopter was not near, including rescuing nine Indonesian fishermen stranded on a small island for two days without food and water and transporting more than 100 stranded people and flying in hundreds of pounds of supplies during a massive flooding event in Fitzroy Crossing in northwest Australia.

In Australia, the crew is similar to other operators with two pilots, a hoist operator, and a hoist paramedic — with one difference. The crew is supplemented with two medical crew — a doctor and flight nurse or paramedic contracted from the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

CHC Helikopter Service, the Norwegian division of CHC Helicopter, has a foot in both worlds in Norway. The company operates two S-92s for IOCs as well as five Airbus AS332s and two additional S-92s for the Norwegian Ministry of Justice for all-weather day and night onshore and offshore SAR.

As a result of the Alexander L Kielland flotel platform collapse in the North Sea off the coast of Norway that killed 123 people in 1980, Norwegian regulations require IOCs to provide full offshore SAR. CHC bases its aircraft on rigs and onshore locations throughout its coverage area ensuring complete radius coverage. All aircraft are equipped with dual hoists, NVIS, FLIR, searchlight, full de-icing, and 4-axis autopilot. One of the S-92s has the mobile detection and location system Lifeseeker installed, and the two S-92s contracted for the Norwegian Ministry of Justice are planned to have it installed in the coming months.

While the aircraft on the IOC contracts are primarily dedicated to medevac and SAR for their clients, they too respond to all calls within their coverage area, something that is not uncommon in Norway’s harsh environment.

“We primarily perform medevac with our second responsibility to respond to our crew change aircraft should they have a problem and have to perform an emergency landing in the water,” said Helge Nesvag, CHC Helicopters’ Europe, Middle East and Africa senior commercial director. “That said, we will support anyone in distress in our coverage area. That includes fishing boats, supply ships, aircraft, or cruise ship passenger medevac, regardless of whether it is related to the oil industry or not.”

For the government contract, CHC performs SAR throughout the islands and mountains of Norway from three bases.
Typical missions include finding and rescuing lost or injured hikers, climbers, snowmobilers, and avalanche victims.

“We get a lot of tourists, even as far north as Svalbard close to the north pole,” Nesvag said. “People get injured climbing and it’s not uncommon for snowmobiles to fall through the ice. The water is quite cold, and we must be able to respond quickly with technical rescues.”

Civil Offshore SAR Trends

Operators see several growing trends in civil offshore SAR operations. The first is a move toward more civil contracts for both IOCs and government agencies.

“In developed countries, offshore SAR is quite stable, whether provided by the government or contractors,” CHC’s Nesvag said. “I think we’ll see more requirements for oil-and-gas companies to provide this service in emerging markets.” Avincis’s Tye agrees.

“Governments are realizing they get dedicated and better value-for-money solutions from a civilian contracted company than they might otherwise get from the military, whose primary mission is different,” Tye said. “For one, the procurement process is much faster. It can take several more years for the military to order, purchase, and accept into service an aircraft than a civilian operator, due to the multi-mission requirements of military aircraft. In that same example, the cost to operate a SAR-configured aircraft versus a military multi-mission aircraft is far less per hour.”

That said, the service does come at a cost, which has slowed the transition. Bristow’s Ebberson has watched the process of moving to civil contracts take longer than expected due to political and financial considerations.

“It is quite a significant investment to have the levels of readiness and capability we provide 24/7/365, ready to launch in 15 minutes, both in terms of operational costs and the training required to maintain such a high level of skill,” Ebberson said. “Some governments aren’t able or willing to afford that level of readiness; it takes time and political will for them to conclude that the response and quality of service is of value to the taxpayer for the money.”

While the trend is moving toward civilian contracts for IOCs, Cougar’s Gerber feels more can be done to encourage and direct it.

“The regulations and oversight around civilian SAR operations are still evolving and can be sparse in some regions,” he said. “More comprehensive and clear regulations around SAR requirements would provide more stability and predictability for civil offshore SAR.”

PHI’s Watt noticed another trend in IOC contracts.

“I see IOCs regionally looking at how to reduce costs by sharing or limiting extra capabilities as a reflection of their historic use of SAR aircraft,” Watt said. “When they can, they’re looking at providing minimum SAR capability and more ‘dual-hat’ operations where an aircraft with basic winch capabilities that is regularly used to transport crew can quickly be reconfigured for medevac and SAR.”