Channel Islands Air Search CIAS) has completed the acceptance programme of its brand new mission equipped Britten Norman BN2B-20 Islander.
Britten Norman developed aircraft in partnership with CIAS to create a bespoke aircraft that was mission equipped to fulfil the needs of the services 24-hour rapid response.
The new aircraft is fitted with the latest role-specific equipment to enhance CIAS’ capability. A new modification has incorporated both an Electro-Optical / Infrared sensor and a marine radar in the nose of the aircraft.
The multi-sensor Wescam MX-10 feeds back live information to two operator consoles to display data in real time.
On the flight deck, the aircraft is equipped with a Garmin G600 TXi touchscreen foundation flight cockpit which incorporates electronic instrument displays and the multifunction GTN series nav/com/GPS.
Captain Roger Dadd, founder and Trustee of CIAS said “I found the aircraft a delight to fly; its capacity is phenomenal and it has much-reduced noise levels. The Crew of Airsearch are so pleased with what is the best search and rescue aircraft of its type in the world.”
Channel Islands Air Search has been operating in the 5000 square area around the Channel Islands for nearly 40 years and has operated the Britten Norman aircraft for 30 years.
When its previous aircraft was withdrawn from service, Britten Norman stepped in and made an interim search and rescue aircraft available until their new aircraft was ready.
CIAS was one of the agencies recently involved in the search for the aircraft that was carrying premier league footballer, Emiliano Sala, in January this year.
The charity holds The Queens Award for Voluntary Service.
