Videos

In this edition: Chinese Lanterns - Delightful or Dangerous? Chinese lanterns may look beautiful as they drift away into the night sky, but for Coastguards and for Farmers they present a real nuisance - for very different reasons. The National Farmers Union have joined with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to get people to think before they launch Chinese Lanters, over the coast, or over the countryside.

Sikorsky S92 helicopters are now being used by the UK Coastguard, under contract, for search and rescue in Scotland. The Coastguard has been using S92s since 2007 and they’re proving to be fast, reliable and advanced. Crew members talk about the extreme conditions in which these helicopters can operate, about their accurate instrumentation, and about how the S92s have helped them improve operations. Watch out for more S92 search and rescue helicopters around the UK coast.

In this podcast we take a look at the UK Ship Register, part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The UK Ship Register is one of the best performing flags in the major Port State Control regimes with a reputation for maintaining the highest international standards. For the full 9 minute UKSR film, go to http://www.vnrs.co.uk/mca/video/uksr.wmv

The Portland Bill Coastguard Rescue Team and Coastguard Rescue helicopter 106 were called to assist and found the gentleman with very serious injuries to his ankles. The helicopter was at the scene for 50 minutes, stabilising his injuries and lifting him from a very precarious position. He was then flown to Dorset County Hospital for treatment. It is believed that the gentleman is Hungarian and has been working in the Portland area. At the moment it’s not clear how he sustained his injuries. The following short excerpt clips were used by BBC Spotlight to cover the story.

Rare footage of the Spinningdale wreckage, being cut up and removed, on the island of St Kilda.

July 2009 Recent footage of the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter on the Shetland Islands.

13 July 2009 (selected sections from footage) The crane, a twin boom rig with the cab suspended on rails failed at both uprights and collapsed onto various containers below. Whilst the Fire and Rescue Service extricated the man and placed him on a spinal board discussions continued as to the best place to remove the injured man by winch. The helicopter then lifted him from the area within the crash site to the dockside where an ambulance took him to hospital by road.

12 June 2009 (selected sections from footage) Aerial view of man rescued as his yacht broke up on rocks in Lyme Bay. The skipper, a 62 year old male from Norwich, was taken off the yacht by crewmen from the Inshore Lifeboat and then safely winched to the waiting helicopter, airlifted to the Helicopter base at Portland and met by Portland Bill Coastguards and South Western Ambulance. Apart from being cold and shaken he was found to be well.