Ghost of a flea

So how do the Sea Kings compare with other helicopters? Pretty well, given the work they do. And how do ours compare with other Sea King fleets? Certainly there are plenty still flying -- the British-built Sea Kings and the original US-built Sikorsky S-61s on which they were based. The US President has one. His version is called the VH-3D, but it's basically an S-61. It has been flying him and his predecessors around since 1976 and is expected to keep going until at least 2012. Ours are not especially old or unusually accident-prone.

But we don't need to get too sentimental about them; they are only machines, assets that need to be managed. Certainly we'd like to hold on to them if we can. Very few other aircraft have the range, carrying capacity or overwater capabilities of the Sea King. Certainly not the Sea Hawk, which is much smaller inside.