UK Coastguard helicopter winchman awarded Queen's Commendation for Bravery

Sgt Proctor (right) was present his QBCQ award by Group Captain
Paul Chappell at RAF Lossiemouth. Copyright RAF Lossiemouth
Sergeant Sean Proctor, a UK Coastguard helicopter winchman, has been awarded the highly-coveted Queen's Commendation for bravery in the Air at a ceremony at RAF Lossiemouth earlier this week.

 The former RAF Search and Rescue crewman, who now works as a Coastguard winchman at Inverness, was recognised for his actions in rescuing a fisherman from his vessel during severe weather conditions back in February 2015.

 The Queen's Commendation for Bravery in the Air is awarded 'for an act (or acts) of bravery while flying not in the presence of the enemy.'

 The rescue for which Sgt Proctor received the award took place 95 miles north east of Aberdeen.  A RAF Search and Rescue helicopter from Lossiemouth was requested to airlift the crewman suffering from sever abdominal pain from his fishing vessel.  However, the very severe weather conditions, including winds of 45 knots, low cloud and rain, with visibility down to 200 metres at times, together with a fierc sea made this a challenging rescue for the experienced SAR crew.  A hi-line was initially lowered to the fishing boat to guide Sgt Proctor, the helicopter's winchman, to the deck of the vessel.  The swell of the sea casued the boat's crew to pull too hard on the hi-line with Sgt Proctor's descent being made more perilous.  But through his sheer strench and determination he was able to grasp the hi-line and pull himself onto the vessel.  Swiftly assessing the condition of the casulaty, he prepared him for winching and grasped the winch hook as the vessel lurched violently.  Recognising the danger of the situation, Sgt Proctor rapidly attached himself and the casualty to the winch hook for recovery to the helicopter.

 Speaking of his award, Sgt Proctor said:  'I'm honoured to have received this award, but I think it's recognition of the work, effort and skill of the whole crew who responded to the call out on that night.  We really worked together to safely recover the injured fisherman from the vessel.  The weather did make it challenging for the crew, but our training prepared us for the toughest of situations, and were able to draw on that training, as well as our experience, to successfully complete the task.'

 On leaving the RAF, Sgt Proctor joined the Bristow Group in Inverness, who deliver the UK Coastguard search and rescue helicopter operations on behalf of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency. 

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