WHO WE ARE
AirSearch is a voluntary organisation made up of Pilots, observers and ground crew who donate their time and aircraft to the Emergency Services, CoastGuard, local authorities and Resilience Forums, to provide eyes in the sky, aerial reconnaissance and photography for a number of purposes.  We do not partake in Police matters, other than on a Neighbourhood Watch basis from the air.  

WHAT WE DO
Primarily - Search, Locate and Report functions from the air, although we also are regularly asked to take aerial photos for local councils for flooding and terrorism assessments, search for missing people and animals, and report on traffic and crowd problems at certin events.  We have been specifically requested to cover the skies over East London and Kent for the Olympics 2012.  We cannot be "tasked" on a "scramble" basis, unlike other similar organisations such as the RNLI, but if we have aircraft available in the air when an incident occurs, we can divert and help out.  All of our pilots are also trained to "keep a good lookout" on the ground and report anything they see en route.  We have direct radio communication with the Coast Guard for any coastal issues.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?

• As a Pilot
  Increase your flying skills with our own in-house training, including Search Patterns, Locating difficult to see items, and precision navigation and flying;
• As an Observer
  Assist our Pilots as the main set of eyes out of the window, searching, locating, marking positions and taking photographs, as well as helping out on the ground;
• As Ground Crew
  On certain "missions" we need people to man the base on the ground, send emails, make phone calls and generally help out at the airfield.

And for all of our members, we regularly hold meetings, with guest speakers (recently including Ken Wallis MBE of Little Nelly fame from the Bond film, and the HART hazardous area response team paramedics with their superb fleet of highly equipped vehicles), plus fly-ins and other social events.

OUR PILOTS AND AIRCRAFT
Most of our pilots hold a UK Private Pilot Licence - although many AirSearch pilots carry higher qualifications such as ATPL, CPL and Instructor licences.  Generally, we are just ordinary people who provide a service which is second to none, to put something back into the community.  Our aircraft include fixed wing aircraft, rotary wing aircraft (helicopters and autogyros) and microlights.

USING AIRSEARCH
AirSearch will help in any humanitarian or community role. Although mainly involved in co-operating with the voluntary and professional emergency services, anyone can contact AirSearch and request assistance by email. A coordinator will contact you to make arrangements.  Please use the CONTACT US page of our site to get in touch.  We promise you a fast response, and will help out where we can.

Areas we can help out in are:

• Aerial photography of damaged buildings after snow or floods;
• Photographing coastlines and river banks for damage, flooding, access risks etc;
• Searching for missing people, cattle, boats and vehicles;
• Crowd reporting for major events;
• Guiding vehicles and people to specific locations that are otherwise hard to find;
• Flying emergency water and food in to unreachable locations;
• and much more.

GETTING ON BOARD
If you would like to help actively as a pilot, air observer, ground crew or have a 4x4 vehicle to refuel search aircraft at remote farm strips then we would like to hear from you. There will be a wing near you so you can be involved at whatever level of commitment you wish and will be most welcome whatever time you can put in.

FUNDING
AirSearch is not a commercial organisation and as such we do not, and cannot charge for our services, however we are able to receive donations towards the administration of Air Search.