The crew of R936 were tasked at 1542Z to assist Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team (LLMRT) with a casualty reported to have suffered head and spinal injuries following a significant fall in poor weather on the Yr Wyddfa horseshoe. 

The sortie was flown day into night with very poor weather, heavy snow showers reducing visibility to less than 1km out of cloud and with substantial cloud down to ground level.  R936 routed around Yr Wyddfa to the scene of the reported casualty as quickly as possible. On arrival the crew came to the hover abeam Llyn Llydaw where it became clear the casualty was located on the upslopes in dense cloud cover. Due to the serious nature of the casualty’s injuries, the crew elected to ascend the slope despite visibility of mere metres, and in a significant snow shower. Working as a crew, with very limited references, R936 ascended approximately 500ft in cloud and located LLMRT personnel who were in close proximity to the casualty. Maintaining a stable hover, with limited references, the Winch-Paramedic was deployed to the hillside and traversed across a steep hillside in treacherous conditions to RV with LLMRT.

At this point, due to falling light levels and deteriorating weather the crew decided that R936 would land at the base of the cliffs to await a LLMRT stretcher carry down of the casualty before onward transportation. The crew slowly descended in cloud, again utilising excellent CRM and working as a team, to safely get the aircraft out of cloud and to the base of the slope, where they landed on. 

It then became clear, after medical assessment by the Winch-Paramedic, that the casualty had sustained severe life-threatening injuries to his head and spine that required immediate evacuation. At this point the weather had gotten worse, with low cloud, and a heavy snow shower now engulfing the area of the Llyn Llydaw. Once the casualty was packaged and carried to a suitable winching site, R936 returned through cloud using a combination of white light and NVG. Ascending a significant slope on NVGs, in cloud and heavy snow required exceptional teamwork and crew coordination. Throughout the rotor tips were in close proximity to the cliff face, and with the potential disorientation from the heavy snow, the crew elected to climb up the slope meter by meter, ensuring safe terrain clearance throughout.  Achieving the overhead proved extremely challenging due to the heavy snow and the terrain requiring the rotor tips to be very close to the sheer cliff face alongside the aircraft.  This required piloting and winch-operating of the highest standard.  

Despite the imminent threat of the need for a flyaway or thickening cloud resulting in a loss of references for the pilot flying, the crew, without any hesitation, agreed to conduct the casualty and Winch-Paramedic recovery, with the intention of a rendezvous with EMRTS at Caernarfon for onward transportation to definitive care.  The con from the Winch-Operator was instrumental in keeping the aircraft safe. He not only focused on the safety on the Winch-Paramedic and casualty but provided calm and controlled patter to ensure tip clearances and provided the crew with an outstanding service in near zero visibility and low light levels. 

A very slow descent of approximately 700ft in cloud was then required. Again, this was delivered via exceptional CRM and teamwork with the Co-Pilot and Winch-Operator working together to provide patter and clearances to safely descend in zero visibility. The Winch-Operator (under-training), who was on the crew shadowing shift, was also instrumental in giving assurance of clearances from the rockface when descending the hillside and displayed the highest standards of airmanship to assist the crew. Finally, the crew recovered to the area where they previously landed. Unfortunately, the weather had declined further, with low cloud and a snowstorm now engulfing the area. Due the time taken to climb and descend the slope, fuel levels were now low enough to mean a recovery back to Caernarfon was no longer possible. 

With visibility just metres, the crew identified the pipeline that leaves the Llyn Llydaw reservoir and drops down into valley east of Yr Wyddfa. Using this as the sole reference, R936 hover taxied along the pipeline, using it as a handrail to descend down the mountainside. Again, working as a 4-man team, CRM, calm and controlled patter and tip clearance monitoring were essential in getting R936 off the mountainside. Once in the valley below, due to further deteriorating weather in heavy snow showers, and limited fuel, R936 was forced to land at a remote farm location, shutdown and await medical support by road. Due to the remote location of the LS no phone reception was possible. As a result, the pilots went on foot to find a local farmer and gain access to a phone. During this period, the Winchman-Paramedic continued to deliver care in the cold, dim and confined space of the shutdown aircraft, whilst the pilots established communication and access for EMRTS support. The casualty was driven to Stoke MTC under the care of EMRTS and R936 recovered to Caernarfon the following morning after the weather cleared. 

Without the intervention of R936 it is highly unlikely the casualty would have been recovered quick enough to receive the urgent critical care they needed.  A rescue by LLMRT would have been an extremely challenging and lengthy exercise given the location/weather. It would have been highly dangerous for all involved. 

In rescuing the casualty from Y Lliwedd the crew of R936 showed great courage and tenacity whilst faced with an extremely challenging situation.  They are deserving recipients of the Prince Philip Helicopter Rescue Award.

1978/79  Captain G Bain, Captain C C Bosanquet, Captain A Campbell, B Johnstone Esq

1979/80  Flt Lt R E Neville, Flt Lt M J Lakey, Flt Sgt J K Moody, Flt Sgt C M Yarwood

1980/81  MALM David Edward Bullock GC (posthumously)

1981/82  Lt Cdr H S Clark 825 Sqn

1982/83  Wessex MK3 of HMS Antrim Flight - Lt Cdr I Stanley DSO, Lt C J Parry, Sub Lt S Cooper, POACM D B Fitzgerald

1983/84  POACM John Stephen Coleman

1984/85  Joint Award to 826 N.A.S (Sea King) and HMS Endurance (WASP)

1985/86  Lt D Marr, POACMN M C Palmer, POACMN L Slater

1986/87  WO1 I D Johnstone AAC & Sgt D I Lewis REME

1987/88   Jeff Todd Esq

1988/89  Flt Sgt Vaughan Dodsworth AFM RAF

1989/90  POACM S W Wright, POACM D S Wallace

1990/91  Flt Lt D Kerr-Sheppard RAF, Flt Lt D G Gow RAF, MAEOP M R Cornes, MALM W Payne

1992   not awarded

1992/93  772 NAS Helicopter - Lt M I P Langley, POACM A Rogers, LACMN B Buggins

1993/94  Flt Sgt Chris J Wood

1994/95  The Crew of Rescue 169: Flt Lt  A Cooper, Flt Lt M Dennis, Flt Lt G Holmes, Flt Sgt P Trethewey

1995/96  Rescue 25 78 Sqn Falkland Islands: Flt Lt M Dennis, Flt Lt T Gear, Flt Sgt Larke, SgtS Labouchardiere

1996/97  Rescue 193 from RNAS CULDROSE - Lt B J Nicholas, Lt J M Collicutt, Lt G P Norris, POACM P J Warrington, LACM R W McKee

1997/98  Posthumously for William (Bill) Deacon

      ALSO:  A special award to: Crews 03, 06 and 10 of Sea Flight 810 Sqn RNAS Culdrose

1998/99  The Crew of the Bell 412 Helicopter VH-CFT of Careflight

1999/2000  The helicopter pilots and crew of the South African Air Force

2000/01 Awarded twice:
      Crew of HMS Montrose
      Flt Sgt Trevor Thompson AFC

2001/02  Crew of the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter
      Peter Yates, Dr Michael Novy, Tim Thistleton, Matthew Scott, Paul Featherstone

2002/03  'Rescue 137' D Flight No 202 Sqn RAF Lossiemouth

2003/04  Rescue 193 RN

2004/05  Rescue 193 (Boscastle)

2005/06  Rescue 193 of 771 NAS

2006/07  Awarded twice:
      The Crew of 'Rescue 901' 442 Sqn CAF
      Hong Kong Government Flying Service

2007/08  Awarded twice:
      HMS GANNET SAR FLIGHT 'Rescue 177'
      'BLACKOUT 26' 7 Sqn RAF

2008/09   Crew of "Rescue 193" of 771 NAS

2009/10   Crew of R902, 442 Sqn CAF

2010/11   "HMS Chatham" Lynx - 226 Flt 815 NAS

2011/12  Crew of Rescue 193 NAS: Lt Cdr Mike Luscombe RN, Capt Martin Roskilly RM, Lt Jason "Tom" Sawyer RN, Sgt Anthony Russell RM

2012/13  Rescue 912 103 SAR Sqn RCAF: Capt Aaron Noble, Capt Jon Groten, MWO Jeff Warden, Sgt Brad Hiscock, M/Cpl Mark Vokey

2013/14  Rescue 193 771 NAS: Lt Cdr Richard Calhaem RN, Lt Cdr Paul Robertson RN, Kapitanleutnant Steffen Volkwein and  POACMN Russell Adams

2014/15  Crew OF ‘RESCUE 177’, HMS GANNET SAR FLIGHT -  Lt Cdr Charles Fuller RN, Lt Meirion Hammond RN, Lt Angela Lewis RN and POACM Michael Henson

2016  Awarded twice:
      Crew of United States Coast Guard Rescue 6033 - Lt John Hess USCG, Lt Matthew Vanderslice USCG,  AMT2 Derrick Suba USCG, AST3 Evan Staph USCG
      Crew of HMS Gannet SAR Flight  R 177 - Lt Cdr Martin Lanni AFC RN, Lt Richard Lightfoot RN, Lt James Bullock RN, POACM Alan Speed

2017  Awarded twice:
      Crew of HM Coastguard Rescue 951 Inverness  Captain Simon Tye, Captain James Livitt, Mark Lean and Scott Sharman
      Crew of HM Coastguard Rescue 912 Humberside Captain Peter Mackenzie-Brown, SFO Rob Backus,  Winch Operator Paul Bramley and Winchman/Medic Kate Willoughby

2018  The Hong Kong Government Flying Service

2019  Caernarfon Rescue 936: Captain Kate Simmonds, Captain Dave Kenyon AFC, Winch Operator Richard Taylor QGM and Winchman Paramedic Alistair Drumond

2020  Crew of Royal Air Force of Oman Rescue 01 - Ll Cdr George Thompson RN, Mulazim 1 Tay Mahmood, Wakeel 2 Jaw Yaqoob, Raqeeb Jaw Ibrahim

2021  Crew of 'Schooner 20' and Crew of 'Mako 27'

2022  Crew of Rescue 151 - Captain Rob Green, Captain Simon Hammock, Duncan Tripp, Philip Caudle

2023  Crew of Rescue 924 - Captain Debdash Bhattcharya, Co-Pilot Mark Coupland, Winch Operator Jason Bibby and Winch-Paramedic Carlton Real

2024  Crew of Rescue 936 - Captain Dave Kenyon AFC, Co-Pilot James Stewart, Winch Operator Richard Taylor QGM and Winch-Paramedic Steven Thomas