Widespread concern about the lack of a UK system for enabling inter-agency coordination in a major national emergency was voiced at a Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) conference in London last week.
RAeS rotorcraft committee member Keith Reid says the society has resolved to create a position paper on the subject to present to the Cabinet Office.
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A public service helicopter used during the New Orleans floods brought about by Hurricane Katrina in September 2005 |
Influencing thinking on the issue were concerns about changing weather patterns, the potential for a multiple-point terrorist attack, and the acknowledged non-existence of a US plan for co-ordinating the rescue resources when Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans area in 2005.
Helicopter Association International director flight operations and technical services Harold Summers told the conference how the US helicopter operating industry responded to the crisis with a fair degree of success and no serious accidents, despite having no co-ordinating system, but he was scathing about the lack of government preparedness.
The UK, however, has not - so far - faced a large-area disaster, so the need for extensive helicopter resources from different organisations to work together has not materialised. In recent emergencies the existing system has "coped", the RAeS heard.
This was a word chosen carefully to indicate that although tasks were performed with apparent success, they could have been completed faster and more efficiently.
Only offshore SAR has a unified co-ordination agency in charge of it: the RAF Kinloss, Scotland-based Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre, which can also co-ordinate inland operations.
But there is no command and control protocol for liaising with a police unit technically in charge of an accident recovery operation or natural disaster site.
Gp Capt Steve Garden, station commander at RAF St Mawgan, referred to the RAF as "an enabling asset" with the ability to set up local operational command and control.
But in a multiple-agency emergency, time could be lost because of the absence of a protocol for accessing and then managing resources if the military, police-owned helicopters and charitable trust-owned HEMS were all needed.
Finally, the HAI's Summers warned against adding "another layer of bureaucracy" by creating a national disaster command and control centre.
He suggested the best solution was a system for "facilitating" the co-ordination of existing expertise and resources. The RAeS's position paper seems likely to reflect this thinking.
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Source: FlightGlobal.com
