1st April 2022. As part of our ongoing commitment to assisting in preserving life at sea and around the UK coastline, National Coastwatch are proud to announce the formation of NCI Skywatch.  

 This special 'Station in the Sky' will travel around the coastline keeping a lookout from the air. The aim is to enable NCI to cover more of the coast around the UK by having eyes in the skies. If the Sky watchkeepers spot, or hear of any incidents within their range, they can land and give assistance in areas with no NCI presence, by offering 'eyes on' to help HM Coastguard and other SAR services. NCI Skywatch will also be able to offer further help to existing stations by giving them a different view of an incident from an alternative location.   

 NCI Skywatch will be equipped with an environmentally friendly, NCI hot air balloon to transport a specially adapted mobile NCI Unit which will be deployed at the site of an incident. Each skywatch will travel around the coastline for 80 days. The inaugural Skywatch flight will launch at the beginning of Summer. Test flights are already underway, so please give us a wave when we fly overhead, so we can check the scopes and equipment. Volunteer Sky watchkeepers will undertake altitude training at NCI Portland Bill which is 50 meters above sea level and our tallest (112ft) station, NCI Calshot Tower, will be the location for parachute training. 

 A National Coastwatch spokesperson said: "In line with our new 5-year strategy, the highly-branded balloon will help to further increase awareness of our charity, and what we do, around the UK as it will be flying over regions where we have no representation. Overall, this new 'Station in the Sky' enables NCI to increase the coverage capability of our permanent stations to help save more lives."  

 #EyesInTheSkies #EyesAlongTheCoast