Helicopter

Disclaimer
This is the website
of the Doolin voluntary unit, views expressed are the personal views of a team member/s. For official
information please visit
www.coastguard.ie

HELICOPTER


	The Coast guard Helicopter at Shannon is our main resource and a great benefit to the whole of the west coast of Ireland


		This is a model of a S61 Sikorsky Helicopter (Animation © I.Lambe)

	The twin-engine S61N Sikorsky medium lift helicopter has a cruising speed of 110 knots. The Sikorsky is capable of over 4 hours endurance . Coast Guard helicopters are fitted with forward looking infrared radar (FLIR) to detect the heat signature of a person or life raft in the water.


	The Sikorsky is capable of over 4 hours endurance but time on target and rescue capacities decrease with distance from the airport or refueling base. Examples of rescue loads are:

RADIUS	TIME ON TARGET	RESCUE CAPACITY
220nm	25 mins	14
150nm	105 mins	18
50nm	210 mins	24






			All Photos copyright John Kelly unless stated otherwise.