A FISHING boat crew plucked from dangerous sea conditions on Friday owe their safety to a rarely used search and rescue flying technique.
Once over the sinking boat, the Sea King aircraft from RNAS Culdrose was "flown" from the rear seat by the winch operator using the Auxiliary Trim Control to put the aircraft in the best possible position.
Commander and observer Lieutenant Commander Simon Daw, told the West Briton: "We used a technique we don't often use; we flew the aircraft from the back seat with the door open." This had made the rescue operation easier to accomplish, given the conditions.
"The pilots hate it because they're not in control," said Lieutenant Commander Daw. However, it had made it easier for the aircraft to manoeuvre in darkness over the fishing vessel, the 49ft gill-netter Ben My Chree from Newlyn.
Her crew called for assistance after she started to fill with water 17 miles north-east of the Isles of Scilly on Thursday evening.
Skipper Stephen Hicks radioed Falmouth coastguard for assistance just after midnight and a rescue helicopter was scrambled in an attempt to lower a salvage pump to the stricken trawler.
Weather conditions made this impossible, however, and with the water inside the boat rising rapidly the crew made the decision to be airlifted to safety.
The Newlyn-registered CKS also answered the distress call and stood by.
"After we shot the nets, she wouldn't pump properly, so we started heading for home," said 56-year-old Mr Hicks, who has co-owned the vessel with his brother Jonathan since 1978. "The boys said the water was coming up pretty quickly.
"You could see all this water sloshing around and getting quite deep in the engine room.
"Then it got higher and higher, so we decided it was time to call the coastguard.
"They tried to lower this big pump down but it was pitch- black and everything was throwing around.
"The boys just said, 'No; it's time we were off this thing'."
It was not an experience 19-year-old Ross Vickars would like to repeat.
"I was scared; I think we all were," he said.
Chief Petty Officer Jason Bibby was lowered down on a highline and winched four of the crew to safety.
The fifth, Jamie Vickars, Ross's uncle, had to jump on to the St Mary's lifeboat which was alongside and was then winched into the helicopter.
Lieutenant Commander Daw said of the rescue operation itself: "It was one of the more difficult ones, but by no stretch of the imagination the most difficult."
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN