Accredited official statistics

Search and rescue helicopter annual statistics: year ending March 2024

Published 18 June 2024

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/search-and-rescue-helicopter-annual-statistics-year-ending-march-2024/search-and-rescue-helicopter-annual-statistics-year-ending-march-2024

About this release

This release covers civilian search and rescue helicopter (SARH) operations in the UK. The data originates from the Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) who are responsible for the co-ordination of search and rescue (SAR) helicopters and is provided to the Department for Transport (DfT) by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). This release covers the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

These are accredited official statistics and were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation on 13 June 2018. For more information, see the About these statistics section.

Headline figures

Tasking definition

The response of a SAR helicopter to an emergency as notified by the ARCC.

There were 2,735 civilian SAR helicopter taskings in the UK in the year ending March 2024. This is a 6% increase compared to the year ending March 2023 (Chart 1). On average, SAR helicopters across the UK responded to 7.5 taskings a day during the year ending March 2024.

SARH taskings were mainly consistent with the previous year’s patterns, with the exception of January to March 2024, which had a higher number of taskings compared to previous years.

Just under half of taskings were classified as rescue or recovery (1,351), followed by support (576), search (518) and pre-arranged transfers (290). The number of taskings that were categorised as searches increased by 26%.

1,425 people were rescued and 159 assisted by SAR helicopters across all taskings during the year ending March 2024. This is a decrease of 3% and of 70% respectively on the year ending March 2023.

Land and coastal based taskings accounted for 47% and 39% of all taskings respectively, while 15% of taskings were maritime.

SAR helicopter services supported and completed 65% of all taskings during the year ending March 2024, a slightly smaller proportion to the previous year. A further 31% were terminated and 4% were diverted, suspended or cancelled.

Chart 1: Total number of civilian SARH taskings, April 2019 to March 2024 (SARH0101)

In the year ending March 2024, SARH taskings were mainly consistent with previous years’ patterns, showing the same broad trend over the spring, summer and autumn months, and some differences over winter. The month with the highest number of taskings in the year ending 2024 was August 2023 with 325 taskings, a higher figure than the August 2022, which had 307 taskings.

Winter trends, from January to March, showed some differences compared to previous years. In particular, January 2024 was distinctively higher than the norm (237 taskings), 53% higher than the previous year. This increase slightly carried onto February and March 2024 (a 24% and 19% increase compared to the year ending March 2023).

Prestwick saw the most taskings in the year ending March 2024, with 402 taskings. Prestwick has historically always been a busier base due to its centralised location and proximity to both coastal and mountain recreation sites. Newquay, St. Athan and Lee on Solent had the greatest actual and relative increase in taskings compared to the year ending March 2023, with an increase of 23%, 24% and 17% respectively.  These 3 bases account for the majority of the national increase in taskings for the year end March 2024.

Chart 2: Civilian SARH taskings by year and month, April 2019 to March 2024  (SARH0112)

Tasking categories and outcomes

Tasking category definitions

Rescue or Recovery: The transfer of person(s) resulting in them being delivered to a safe environment (including medical facilities).

Search: Search for craft, person(s) or anything else which does not result in moving a person.

Pre-arranged Transfer: Transfer of patients or organs between medical establishments.

Support: Includes on-scene assistance, pre-positioning of SAR units for a potential incident and movement of equipment or personnel. This type of tasking may result in person(s) being assisted, though depending on the type of support given, we may not always know how many people were assisted.

In the year ending March 2024, there were 1,351 rescue and recovery taskings, which made up 49% of all taskings. This was followed by 576 support taskings (21%), 518 search only taskings (19%) and 290 pre-arranged transfer taskings (11%) (Chart 3).

Pre-arranged transfer taskings had the highest proportion of taskings completed (86%), followed by 78% for rescue and recovery. The majority of support taskings were terminated (66%) which was the highest percentage of terminated taskings across the categories. The majority of search only taskings were completed (64%), followed by terminated (34%) (Chart 3).

Chart 3: Number of taskings by tasking type and outcome, year ending March 2024  (SARH0102)

Location of tasking

Location definitions

Coast: Taskings occurring between 0.2 mile inland and 3 nautical miles out to sea.

Maritime: Taskings that occur more than 3 nautical miles out to sea.

Land: All other taskings that are not classed as coastal or maritime.

In the year ending March 2024, there were:

  • 1,273 land based taskings which accounted for 47% of taskings, similarly to the previous year

  • 1,057 coastal taskings which accounted for 39% of all tasking, a higher proportion compared to the previous year (36%)

  • 405 maritime taskings which accounted for 15% of all taskings, compared to 18% in the previous year (Chart 4).

Chart 4: Proportion of taskings by location type, year ending March 2024 (SARH0112)

In the year ending March 2024:

  • pre-arranged transfer taskings were mainly land based (68%)

  • rescue/recovery taskings had a larger proportion of maritime locations compared to other tasking types (22%)

  • support and search taskings had similar proportion of taskings by location type, coastal (around 50%), land (around 40%) and maritime (around 10%) (Chart 5).

The proportion of taskings by tasking type and location are similar to the financial year ending March 2023.  

Chart 5: Proportion of taskings by tasking type and location type, year ending March 2024 (SARH0112)

Maps of SARH taskings and bases

Map of tasking location by base

Map 1: Tasking location by base, year ending March 2024

In the year ending March 2024 there were:

  • 181 taskings from Stornoway base (North West Scotland)

  • 225 taskings from Sumburgh base (North East Scotland)

  • 321 taskings from Inverness base (East Scotland)

  • 196 taskings from Humberside base (East England)

  • 241 taskings from Lydd (South East England)

  • 250 taskings from Lee on Solent (South England)

  • 307 taskings from Newquay (South West England)

  • 281 taskings from St. Athan base (South Wales)

  • 331 taskings from Caernarfon (North Wales)

  • 402 taskings from Prestwick base (West Scotland) - which covers the Lake District, Ben Nevis, and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs

Map of tasking category

Map 2: Tasking location by tasking category, year ending March 2024

In the year ending March 2024, there were:

  • 1,351 rescue/recovery taskings

  • 576 support taskings

  • 518 search taskings

  • 290 pre-arranged transfers

Map of civilian search and rescue bases

Map 3: Map of civilian search and rescue bases

There are currently 10 civilian search and rescue bases open in the UK, with the taskings these bases have been assigned to up to March 2024 detailed in this report. An additional base, Portland, previously responded to search and rescue taskings until its closure in June 2017.

Map 3 shows the location of UK SARH civilian bases and whether they are currently open or closed. These are:

  • Sumburgh, opened in April 2017
  • Inverness, opened in April 2015
  • Humberside, opened in April 2015
  • Lydd, opened in August 2015
  • Lee-on-Solent, opened in April 2017
  • Portland, closed in June 2017
  • Newquay, opened in January 2016
  • St Athan, opened in October 2015
  • Caernarfon, opened in July 2015
  • Prestwick, opened in January 2016
  • Stornoway, opened in July 2017

Background information

This release covers civilian SARH operations in the UK, for all 10 current bases. In April 2015, the operational phase of a new contract to operate civilian SARH services in the UK, managed by the MCA, commenced. These new arrangements took over from the previous mixture of military and coastguard SARH services.

The DfT is now responsible for the production of statistics on SARH activity. The data originates from the ARCC who are responsible for the co-ordination of a SAR helicopter and is provided to the DfT by the MCA.

Interactive dashboard

Explore the data via our interactive search and rescue helicopter statistics dashboard covering SARH taskings from April 2015 onwards.

About these statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation on 13 June 2018. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled accredited official statistics.

Further information about these statistics is available, including:

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Contact details

Search and rescue helicopter statistics

Email SARH.stats@dft.gov.uk

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

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