Recent content by Juan Twothree

One of the holds of the Richard Montgomery being loaded in the US

Absolutely correct.

Most of the time, the JRCC at Fareham receives the satellite alerts from the ground station, and then pings them off to the relevant MRCC. However occasionally Falmouth covers that role, depending on staffing levels at Fareham, and for resilience purposes.

That's incorrect. The satellite download gets picked up at Fareham, then gets passed to usually the JRCC, or occasionally Falmouth, depending on who is covering that function at that particular time. There are no Norwegian emails involved.

I based my original post on my 30+ years as a lifeboat crew. And I can only tell you what I've experienced. Sorry if that doesn't exactly tally with what you've read on Google. Sometimes we've been launched, have started searching, and have then been stood down, as enquiries by the CG have...

Much of what you've described takes very little time. A PLB/EPIRB gets a satellite fix within a couple of minutes (or at least the ones at my lifeboat station do, as it's my job to test them every 6 months). Those satellite alerts are now received at the JRCC at Fareham, which is also where...

My experience has been that we get launched, and the enquiries then carry on in the background. Older devices relying on a satellite passing overhead were a bit more hit and miss, as they seemed to produce a large circle of uncertainty. But the modern GPS ones seem fairly bullet proof, plus the...

I'm guessing they paged Dover LB? An ALB is going to be nearer my ten minute estimate than five. I'd have sent Littlestone (Atlantic 85) too. Although a bit further away than Dover it would be quicker to launch, and only a five minute transit to scene.

Yes, certainly for my station that includes crew coming from home, work or wherever, to the boat leaving the carriage. We were once paged for an immediate launch to a swimmer in difficulties. A few of us happened to be in the vicinity of the boathouse, so we were away within two minutes, and...

Over my lifeboating career I've so far dealt with about 14 ( I think - may be a couple more) fatal incidents. In all but two of those, the casualty had been dead for some hours, or even days, before the alarm was raised. Food for thought.

Between five and ten minutes to launch, then whatever the transit time will be at 25 knots (or 35 for an Atlantic 85).

Spot on

The PLB will produce a fairly rapid response from HMCG. The phoning around to see if it's a false alarm happens once SAR assets have been tasked. And similarly as regards the VHF, as soon as the CG hear mention of a person in the water, lifeboats will be paged and helicopters tasked pretty much...

Maybe I've just been unlucky, or maybe I just bring out the worst in people!

For anyone travelling from Britain to the US, it's well worth considering flying with Aer Lingus via Dublin. You clear US customs and immigration fairly painlessly at a dedicated facility at Dublin airport, and walk straight off the aircraft at the other end. I don't know if it's because they're...