A group of Burnham-On-Sea lifeboat crewmembers has completed a day’s training with the RAF rescue helicopter.
Burnham RNLI was invited to train for a day with the RAF Chivenor crew at its base in Devon, which they undertook last Thursday.
After a 40 minute briefing session at the airbase, the crew were kitted up with RAF flying suits, before taking off on their first exercise, which involved landing the volunteers near to a cliff edge at Croy Bay, before winching them up to the helicopter.
The next training exercise involved transferring the Burnham volunteers to the deck of a container ship and back to the helicopter, before returning to Chivenor for another short briefing session, and a further training session with Woolacombe beach lifeguards.
Burnham lifeboat crewmember Tim Walters told Burnham-On-sea.com: “It was a wonderful opportunity to experience at first-hand the RAF Chivenor operations. As lifeboat crew, we might need to liaise with the helicopter at little or no notice, and the training has added to our understanding of the hazards and difficulties of helicopter rescue techniques.”
It is expected that a second team of volunteers will soon attend.
Pictured in front of the stationary aircraft are Ashley Chappell, Tim Walters, Helmsman Nick Edrich and Helmsman Stuart Lacey
RELATED LINKS:
Lifeboats website for Burnham-On-Sea
