HM Coastguard

Unmanned aircraft will be flown as safety overwatch in support of search and rescue missions for HM Coastguard for the first time. The unmanned aircraft will be supporting search and rescue response in north Wales both in maritime and in the mountains.  It is an operational evaluation and will potentially have the benefits of showing operations staff for HM Coastguard live situations and incidents to provide the best response.  Operated by Bristow, provider of the HM Coastguard Search and Rescue Helicopter Service, the unmanned aerial vehicles will launch from Caernarfon in Wales.  They will provide supporting safety patrols across beaches from Conwy Bay to Llandudno and across Snowdonia. HM Coastguard's helicopters provide support for inland search and rescue which includes the mountain regions, as well in maritime environment and the unmanned aircraft will work alongside those. Initially, the unmanned aircraft will operate only at weekends for HM Coastguard with Bristow...

On Monday, Penzance coastguard rescue team bid a fond farewell to station officer Tim Stevens after an incredible 42 years within the coastguard rescue service which have seen him play a part in some of the largest search and rescue operations of recent times. Tim, 66, joined the coastguard as a general purpose auxiliary on July 27 1978, with duties which spanned both watchkeeping and rescues. In December 1978, just a few months after signing up, Tim was taking part in a training session when he overheard a conversation about an ongoing major incident. He offered to help and found himself involved in the attempt to rescue those onboard German barge carrier MS Munchen, a vessel with 28 people onboard which sent out a distress call 100 miles north of the Azores. Sadly, despite a huge effort involving more than 100 merchant vessels and 20 aircraft, no survivors were ever found. Tim said: “It was a baptism of fire to say the least. And less than a year later I was involved in...

HM Coastguard received multiple 999 calls at around 14:15 today (26 July) reporting several people in difficulty in the water at Aberdovey, Gwynedd. Aberdovey and Borth coastguard rescue teams, Aberdovey RNLI lifeboat, the coastguard helicopter from Caernarfon, Welsh Ambulance Service and two air ambulances were all sent. Three people were taken to hospital by the coastguard helicopter, one by an air ambulance and two by road ambulance. Two other people were checked over by paramedics on scene and did not need onward transfer to hospital. Teams have now been stood down.

Celebrating the women who are flying high - today marks two years since the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter was launched, working towards gender equality in what have traditionally been  male-dominated industries. There are plenty of inspirational female role models whose careers have soared within the search and rescue field. Liz Forsyth, chief pilot at the Humberside base is just one of them. Liz said: “There are no barriers to women becoming air crew. I’ve always wanted to be a pilot and joined the university air squadron. From there I joined the RAF and was lucky enough to go straight into a search and rescue role, later training search and rescue pilots at RAF Valley. “When I left the airforce in 2007 I served in Stornoway on a coastguard contract, and became chief pilot at the Humberside base when Bristow won the contract to deliver search and rescue operations in 2013. “It’s a very mixed job, ensuring that flying standards are maintained, liaising w...

It’s easy to get caught out at the coast. We’ll respond to every 999 call, but you can help us to help you by making sure you’re prepared and not taking any unnecessary risks. No matter how experienced or local, anyone can run into difficulties, as Ben Lacey knows only too well. The 20-year-old, who has been coasteering many times, got caught out by the tide despite knowing the area well, when he climbed along rocks at Lantic Bay, Cornwall, on June 24. Ben said: “I was rather silly in thinking that I wouldn't be caught by the tide as I was coasteering along the rocks that peppered the coastline, but surely enough, I was. After realising that I couldn't get back to the beach the way I came I decided it would be a good idea to climb up the cliff face and make my way to the coastal path. In hindsight, this was an awful decision. “The coastal path was far further than I had expected, and head high brambles made the climb almost impossible. With no way up or down I...

These days the sight of a red and white helicopter in the skies above Britain is a familiar sight to many visitors to our coasts and mountain regions. For some, it has been the moment when they’ve felt the kind of hope that only the realisation of an imminent rescue can bring. Since 2015, the helicopters operated by Bristow Helicopters Ltd on behalf of Her Majesty’s Coastguard have rescued more than 4,500 people from the sea, from coastland and the hills and mountains of the United Kingdom. The helicopters operate from ten bases – Caernarfon, Humberside, Inverness, Lee-on-Solent, Lydd, Newquay, Prestwick, St Athan, Sumburgh and Stornoway and the work they’ve done in support of search and rescue immeasurable in its value. Now the Maritime and Coastguard Agency of which HM Coastguard is the search and rescue arm, is looking to how to build on that and the other success of its aviation arm, the fixed-wing aeroplane based at Doncaster, which has also proved its weight in gold in se...

Today we are celebrating volunteers as part of Maritime Safety Week and this successful search and rescue operation reminds us how important they are to safety at sea and on the coast. HM Coastguard coordinated a search and rescue operation and rescued two yachtsmen after a personal locator beacon was activated around 10.30pm yesterday (5 July). An EPIRB beacon alert was received for French registered yacht Gamin approximately 40 nautical miles off the Isles of Scilly. Falmouth Coastguard Operations Centre coordinated the search and the St Mary’s RNLI lifeboat, the Newquay search and rescue helicopter and a merchant vessel proceeded to locate the vessel. The capsized yacht was located just after midnight. Two French nationals onboard confirmed they were not injured.  The crew of the St Mary’s lifeboat rescued the yachtsmen at around 2.15am today (July 6) and returned them to St Marys Harbour.  A surveillance aircraft is currently keep...

Long-serving HM Coastguard Shoreham volunteer Andy Hall has paid tribute to the NHS on their 72nd anniversary after recently recovering from Coronavirus at Worthing Hospital. Andy, who has been a popular volunteer with the West Sussex-based coastguard rescue team for the best part of two decades, spent over five weeks in the care of NHS doctors and nurses during the peak of the pandemic – but was thankfully discharged from intensive care and allowed to return home in early May. Since then, Andy has been making steady progress and held weekly phone conversations with NHS staff, who are continuing to support and monitor his recovery with the use of a Fitbit. "I can't speak highly enough of the NHS," Andy said. "They've been fantastic and so brilliant with me, from the treatment I received when I was in hospital to the frequent follow-ups and check-in calls. "I'm making steady progress and had a bit of a hiccup a couple of weeks ago, but I am fine. ...

From Monday 6 July the BBC’s broadcasts of the UK Maritime Weather Service, including the Shipping Forecast, will begin to be phased back to normal broadcast times and radio frequencies.   All broadcasts apart from the one currently being put out at 0533 will revert to previous times and previously dropped broadcasts reinstated.   From Monday 6 July, the Shipping Forecast will be broadcast at 0048 on FM and LW, 0533 on FM and LW, midday on LW, and 1754 on LW, also broadcast on FM at weekends.    From Monday 13 July the Shipping Forecast will return entirely to the normal broadcast schedule, and will be broadcast at 0048 on FM and LW, 0520 on FM and LW, midday on LW and 1754 on LW, also broadcast on FM at weekends.    On behalf of the MCA, the Met Office will continue to produce Shipping Forecast and Inshore Waters Forecast four times a day and Her Majesty’s Coastguard will be broadcasting as normal via NAVTEX and MF/VHF marine radio.  ...

At 8.23pm yesterday (July 2), HM Coastguard received a call about a person who had fallen a short distance near the base of Arbroath Cliffs and sustained a leg injury. Coastguard rescue teams from Arbroath and Montrose attended and set up a technical rope rescue, lowering two technicians to the person. Two RNLI lifeboats from Arbroath were sent, and a member of the lifeboat crew came ashore to assist with pain relief before a  coastguard search and rescue helicopter from Inverness transported the person to hospital in Dundee. Take care on cliffs- use designated paths, take notice of any warning signs, be responsible and don’t take any unnecessary risks . As always, it you see anyone in trouble, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.