Official Statistics

Search and rescue helicopter statistics: year ending March 2017

Civilian search and rescue helicopter activity statistics in the United Kingdom, from April 2016 to March 2017.

Documents

Search and rescue helicopter statistics: year ending March 2017 tables

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Details

Statistics on civilian search and rescue helicopter activity in the United Kingdom.

The operational phase of a new contract to provide civilian search and rescue helicopter (SARH) services in the United Kingdom commenced in April 2015. These new arrangements, managed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), have taken over from the previous mixture of military and coastguard SAR services.

In the year ending March 2017:

  • there were 2,594 civilian taskings
  • Caernarfon base was the busiest of the 11 bases, responding to 344 taskings
  • around 60% of taskings involved rescue or recovery
  • land-based taskings accounted for nearly half of all taskings

A summary of the forthcoming changes to the data series is also available, setting out the proposed changes to the production of these statistics and how we are responding to user feedback.

An interactive map showcasing all helicopter taskings during the year ending March 2017 is available.

Ministry of Defence has historically published a National Statistics series on military search and rescue helicopter activity and continued to publish statistics on military activity until February 2016 in line with the broader transfer of search and rescue helicopter responsibilities to the department.

Contact us

Search and rescue helicopter statistics

Email SARH.stats@dft.gov.uk

Public enquiries 020 7944 4847

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

Published 14 June 2017