On Call with Rescue 177: VIDEO

Kevin Paterson 1530 - 1530 • Published 8 Apr 2009 14:35

Reporting From the Air with the UK's Busiest Helicopter Search and Rescue Unit

HEROES is the name easily attributed to the men of HMS Gannet"s search and rescue - but what actually happens day to day at the Prestwick base?

To see what goes on at the base the Ayr Advertiser Series was given an exclusive insight into the officers to keep our area safe 24/7 - 345 days a year.

Lieutenant Commander Martin Lanni, 38, is a man of over 18 years experience, previously an anti-submarine warfare pilot he has been based at Prestwick"s HMS Gannet twice before in 1994 and 2003.

Speaking with us he said: 'It is a fantastic job, you never know what could be coming your way from day to day which is the brilliant thing about search and rescue.'

The dad-of-three, who lives in Ayr with his kids and wife who"s originally from Troon, added: 'To get the job done the crew work together and we have such good, reliable people with great integrity.

'None of us see ourselves as heroes and we didn"t come into search and rescue to do that, we came in for the challenge and satisfaction of helping people. But we don"t do it on our own, we work with some great people, usually volunteers of mountain rescue and the RNLI - without them we couldn"t do it. And everyone helps here, from the office cleaners, the office staff, the engineers and the guards of the base - we couldn"t do this without everyone,

'We would like people to know that the Royal Navy are covering search and rescue for this big area and we hope to continue for sometime. Everybody loves being here, both from the professional and personal point of view.'

Tony Sherwin, 27, is one of HMS Gannet"s observers who oversee the helicopters positioning while in flight.

He said: 'I think the work here is fantastic, it"s one of the best jobs in the Navy.

'I really enjoy it, it"s the people you work with and when you have done a job that has a good outcome you know what you have made a difference in someone"s lives and that"s quite rewarding.'

For the full story see this week's paper - on sale now!

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This article appeared in Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald 07 Apr 09

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