Accredited official statistics

Search and rescue helicopter annual statistics: year ending March 2025

Published 10 June 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/search-and-rescue-helicopter-statistics-year-ending-march-2025/search-and-rescue-helicopter-annual-statistics-year-ending-march-2025

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 2024 to 31 March 2025.

These are accredited official statistics and were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation on the 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 2,849 civilian SAR helicopter taskings in the UK in the year ending March 2025. This is a 4% increase compared to the year ending March 2024 (Chart 1).

On average, SAR helicopters across the UK responded to 7.8 taskings a day during the year ending March 2025.

SARH taskings were mainly consistent with the previous year’s patterns, with the exception of May 2024, which had a higher number of taskings compared to previous years (Chart 2).

Just under half of taskings were classified as rescue or recovery (1,372), followed by search (622), support (554) and pre-arranged transfers (301). The number of taskings that were categorised as searches increased by 20% compared to last year and by 51% compared to the year ending March 2023. This is the highest number of search taskings on record so far.

1,342 people were rescued and 264 assisted by SAR helicopters across all taskings during the year ending March 2025. This is an increase of 66% for people assisted and a decrease of 6% for people rescued, on the year ending March 2024.

Land and coastal based taskings accounted for 49% and 37% of all taskings respectively, while 14% of taskings were maritime.

SAR helicopter services supported and completed 63% of all taskings during the year ending March 2025, a slightly smaller proportion to the previous year. A further 33% were terminated and 4% were diverted, suspended or cancelled.

Chart 1: Total number of civilian SARH taskings, April 2019 to March 2025 (SARH0101)

In the year ending March 2025, SARH taskings were mainly consistent with previous years’ patterns, showing the same broad trend over the summer, autumn and winter months, and some differences over spring. The month with the highest number of taskings in the year ending 2025 was August 2024 with 374 taskings. This is the month with the highest number of taskings on record so far.

Spring trends, in particular May 2024, showed some differences compared to previous years. Taskings in May 2024 were distinctively higher than the norm (340 taskings): 39% higher than the previous year. This increase was limited only to this month, as the trend returned to previous years’ levels in the subsequent months.

Prestwick saw the most taskings in the year ending March 2025, with 450 taskings. Prestwick has historically always been a busier base due to its centralised location and proximity to both coastal and mountain recreation sites. Stornoway, Humberside and Prestwick had the greatest relative and actual increase in taskings compared to the year ending March 2024, with an increase of 19%, 16% and 12% respectively. These three bases account for the majority of the national increase in taskings for the year end March 2025.

Chart 2: Civilian SARH taskings by year and month, April 2019 to March 2025 (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/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 2025, there were 1,372 rescue and recovery taskings, which made up 48% of all taskings. This was followed by 622 search only taskings (22%), 554 support taskings (19%) and 301 pre-arranged transfer taskings (11%) (Chart 3). The number of taskings that were categorised as searches increased by 20% compared to last year and by 51% compared to the year ending March 2023. This is the highest number of search taskings since the start of the series. The other tasking types are quite consistent with previous years.

Pre-arranged transfer taskings had the highest proportion of taskings completed (90%), followed by 73% for rescue and recovery. The majority of support taskings were terminated (71%). This was the highest percentage of terminated taskings across the categories. The majority of search only taskings were completed (64%), followed by terminated (32%) (Chart 3).

1,342 people were rescued and 264 assisted by SAR helicopters across all taskings during the year ending March 2025. This is an increase of 66% for people assisted and a decrease of 6% for people rescued, on the year ending March 2024.

Chart 3: Number of taskings by tasking type and outcome, year ending March 2025 (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 2025, there were:

  • 1,391 land based taskings which accounted for 49% of taskings, similarly to the previous year

  • 1,045 coastal taskings which accounted for 37% of all tasking, similarly to the previous year

  • 413 maritime taskings which accounted for 14% of all taskings, similarly to the previous year (Chart 4)

Chart 4: Proportion of taskings by location type, year ending March 2025 (SARH0112)

In the year ending March 2025:

  • pre-arranged transfer taskings were mainly land based (58%)

  • rescue/recovery taskings have a larger proportion of maritime locations compared to other tasking types (21%) 

  • support and search taskings have similar proportion of taskings by location type, coastal (around 42%), land (around 49%) and maritime (around 10%) (Chart 5)

The proportion of taskings by tasking type and location are similar to the financial year ending March 2024.

Chart 5: Proportion of taskings by tasking type and location type, year ending March 2025 (SARH0112)

Maps of SARH taskings and bases

Map of tasking location by base

In the year ending March 2025 there were:

  • 216 taskings from Stornoway base (North West Scotland)

  • 208 taskings from Sumburgh base (North East Scotland)

  • 326 taskings from Inverness base (East Scotland)

  • 227 taskings from Humberside base (East England)

  • 258 taskings from Lydd (South East England)

  • 260 taskings from Lee on Solent (South England)

  • 308 taskings from Newquay (South West England)

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

  • 325 taskings from Caernarfon (North Wales)

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

Map 1: Tasking location by base, year ending March 2025

Map of tasking category

In the year ending March 2025, there were:

  • 1,372 rescue/recovery taskings

  • 622 search taskings

  • 554 support taskings

  • 301 pre-arranged transfers

Map 2: Tasking location by tasking category, year ending March 2025

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 2025 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 search and rescue helicopter statistics is available, including:

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Contact details

Search and rescue helicopter statistics

Email SARH.stats@dft.gov.uk

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