Helicopters, helicopters, helicopters.......

We are regularly visited by helicopters here at the school, we are right next to the hospital, and the school playing field is used by the RAF Search and Rescue Helicopter for landing during casualty evacuation.  People around here are used to the SAR helo landing, but it does take some getting used to!   It can also cause severe disruption, as we found out a couple of weeks ago when the PE teacher and I had to abandon our lesson due to the helicopter arriving.  We couldn't move indoors to the sports hall as it was being used for a careers fair!

Anyway, in it came today at lunchtime, and I had my camera with me this time, so I snapped a few pictures.  It was quite windy today as well, gusting at 40+mph, so you really have to admire the pilots and loadies on the Sea King.

The Sea King acts as a vital lifeline for many people, as a 30 mile journey out here can take over an hour, so it really is a vital and useful role that the RAF carry out.

It's a massive turnout too, as the helicopter cannot land until the ambulance crew and fire brigade are ready, and often the medical evacs happen at short notice!  Generally the helo remains on the ground after the casualty has been unloaded, people have mentioned it is in case they need to casevac the patient off the Islands, it means they can be at Mount Pleasant very quickly!

On a more positive note, we had a "show the flag" visit from a Lynx helicopter based on HMS Gloucester, a warship currently on patrol here.  All the students had a chance to meet the pilots and be shown around the helicopter.  One of the funny anecdotes behind the visit is that when the crew first came to recce the area a couple of days before, they asked where they should land, so someone said "over there, about where the Sea King lands, we'll show you in a minute........no we wont.........the Sea King is here.......Look, it lands there!!!!"

In came the Lynx and began a hover, before lowering a man dressed in a penguin suit to the ground!

Lowering the "penguin"

And down onto the deck!

Once down we went out with students, a class at a time.  My group was the first out, so we recieved a commemorative picture of the Lynx in flight above Gloucester and a HMS Gloucester hat band.  I'm next to the pilot, and receiving the photo is our acting head, Helen, along with some year 7 students.