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Mayday


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What a balls up, major sea and air search all because some twat learning how to work a vhf radio.

Should send him the bill of the whole operation then im sure he won't use a vhf again without good reason.

 

At least they owned up so that everybody concerned can relax and know that nobody is in distress.

 

At least said "twat" was sensible enough to be demonstrating the correct procedure, and as you say, alerted the authorities immediately when he realised what had happened.

 

All it would have taken was for the radio to have been left on with the volume turned down. Not all models have bright flashy displays.

 

Maybe if there were more "twats" like this guy, there would actually be fewer real emergencies..

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As someone directly involved with this search I believe the word TWAT is not too extreme , does everyone realise how much time ,money , and effort went into this search , I know that the chopper is at least £6000 an hour on fuel alone , take in the two lifeboats , pilot boat and all the people who were involved manning them (remember only a couple of the lifeboat crews are full time) the costs are enormous , I'd be surprised if there is change from £35000 to mount this search . While I think this is a stupid mistake it is quite heartening to think that so much effort can go into finding someone on a brief mayday call with no position given , at least if it does go wrong when any of us are out at sea (and there are many of us on these isles) , we know we can rely on the the full and concerted efforts of professionals to find us , that alone is a great piece of mind for me.Still I would prefer if people do want to teach how to broadcast a mayday they do it with the radio switched OFF , apart from that quite why they never checked that the volume was turned up on 16 when all the helicopter activity was evident is beyond me , as a seafarer the first thing you would do if you were suspicious of any activity in the area is to listen to your radio in case you can help , yep TWAT does seem appropriate

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At least said "twat" was sensible enough to be demonstrating the correct procedure

 

It's not anything like any correct procedure i've come across. He called three different stations and never gave a position for a start.

 

and as you say, alerted the authorities immediately when he realised what had happened.

 

Five hours later! And with the area flooded with helicopters, lifeboats and other boats searching.

 

Maybe if there were more "twats" like this guy, there would actually be fewer real emergencies..

 

It really isn't rocket science to realise that if you key the mike on a radio which is switched on and on channel 16 that your transmission will be heard and acted upon.

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What a balls up, major sea and air search all because some twat learning how to work a vhf radio.

Should send him the bill of the whole operation then im sure he won't use a vhf again without good reason.

 

At least they owned up so that everybody concerned can relax and know that nobody is in distress.

 

At least said "twat" was sensible enough to be demonstrating the correct procedure, and as you say, alerted the authorities immediately when he realised what had happened.

 

All it would have taken was for the radio to have been left on with the volume turned down. Not all models have bright flashy displays.

 

Maybe if there were more "twats" like this guy, there would actually be fewer real emergencies..

 

Spinner72 B*****ks

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Spinner72 is probably right. Da man has maybe made a massive pills o things and he did own up ta da mistake. A bid donation to the coast guard and a trip to scalloway to get some lessons on proper use o a vhf is in order i think.

 

H.M. Coastguard is a Government body and as such we can't take donations...........The R.N.L.I on the other hand rely on donations. :) However, the thought was well intentioned, thankyou.

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I was actually glad when I heard it was a false alarm as it was starting to look like there would be no suvivors.

 

The cost of the search does seem extreme but it's not as if the coastguard and RNLI don't have budgets for training. As for the impact on the Shetland economy for those that had to leave their work to conduct the search (lifeboat crews and coastguard volunteers), it probably is less than the loss in productivity throughout the islands on Friday mornings due to the Shetland Times.

 

The RNLI and the coastguard are always trying to raise awareness and improve safety at sea through various campaigns etc, hopefully they could use this incident to increase the casual seagoer's knowledge VHF use/appropriate distress transmissions.

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What a balls up, major sea and air search all because some twat learning how to work a vhf radio.

Should send him the bill of the whole operation then im sure he won't use a vhf again without good reason.

 

At least they owned up so that everybody concerned can relax and know that nobody is in distress.

 

At least said "twat" was sensible enough to be demonstrating the correct procedure, and as you say, alerted the authorities immediately when he realised what had happened.

 

All it would have taken was for the radio to have been left on with the volume turned down. Not all models have bright flashy displays.

 

Maybe if there were more "twats" like this guy, there would actually be fewer real emergencies..

 

Utter rubbish Spinner72, if he was going to test his radio he should have done it off, and if he was showing his friend while it was on, why no just say 'testing testing', instead of "Help I'm sinking".

 

Utter TWAT for me is putting it mildly.

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