United Kingdom (Commonwealth Union)_ Last week, the crew of a good samaritan merchant ship rescued a sailor from a badly-damaged yacht in severe conditions off Cornwall. It was one of the first casualties which brought extreme winds to the North Atlantic, Bay of Biscay and English Channel over the weekend, caused by Storm Ciaran.
A sailor aboard a Norwegian-flagged sailing yacht put out a distress signal at a position about 700 miles off the coast of Cornwall on Thursday. The Royal Air Force was tasked with the response, since its fixed-wing search aircraft have greater range than coastal rescue helicopters.
A French Navy FA50 Falcon maritime patrol plane discovered the stricken sailing vessel first and confirmed that its skipper was still alive. A RAF Atlas A400 search plane took off to take over the response mission, followed by a larger P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the early hours of November 3rd.
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The Green Azure, a crude tanker, responded to the yacht’s request for assistance and diverted to the scene. The Poseidon held station near the stricken yacht to monitor the situation and guide the ship in while it was under way.
The Poseidon is able to carry an air search and rescue survival package, the Uni-Pac III, which was designed to fit in the P-8’s ample weapons bay. If the skipper of the yacht had been forced to abandon ship, the Poseidon would have deployed a rescue package, but this did not prove necessary, and the crew of the Green Azure successfully rescued the survivor.
Wing Commander Adam Smolak of the RAF 201 Squadron stated that Poseidon aircraft and crews were on constant standby to respond to incidents such as this. He said that the duty crew reacted quickly and professionally to help support the successful rescue of the sailor and that the success of the mission was a testament to their professionalism and excellent training.
