And the Navy only responded to nine incidents, figures released yesterday show.

How much Bermuda spends on search and rescue after the US Naval Air Station closes will depend on what kind of service Government wants, said Commander Rich Link, the officer in charge of air operations at the Base.

Cdr. Link told The Royal Gazette that Bermuda would assume responsibility for search and rescue next May, four months before the scheduled September closure of NAS Bermuda.

Management and Technlogy Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons has said it is most likely a contractor will be hired to perform search and rescue. While Government would likely call for tenders, a committee is assessing at least two unsolicited proposals from Canadian companies, said Lt. John Wheeler, the Base's search and rescue officer.

Two of the Navy's three Bell 212 helicopters -- which it operates for search and rescue within a 100-mile radius of Bermuda -- are nearly 20 years old. The third is new. The Americans would leave some equipment behind in Bermuda, but "the issue of leaving the helicopters has not been brought up by Government,'' Cdr. Link said. "I don't think that that is likely.'' The Navy employs six pilots, seven crewmen, and 25 mechanics who work on the helicopters. Although NAS Bermuda had been cut back, there were no cutbacks in the search and rescue area, he said. "The SAR unit is fully manned and fully capable and will remain so until May of 1995.'' When a helicopter goes on a rescue, it normally carries two pilots, a crew chief, a swimmer, and a flight surgeon.

Parts alone for the helicopters cost the Navy $368 per operating hour. And the choppers burn 90 gallons of fuel each hour, Link said.

Cdr. Link stressed the Navy met military requirements that were higher than civilian ones, partly because they were designed to withstand casualties during war.

"It's hard to compare it to whatever the Government of Bermuda may be interested in doing later,'' he said.

"The US Navy is not the only way to do search and rescue. There are a lot of people who have different ideas on how it works, even within the US military.'' "It's not a cheap thing,'' he said. "You don't want to do it halfway.'' Still, "it doesn't mean it's not achievable. In the time frame they've got, it's achievable.'' Last year, NAS Bermuda launched 15 helicopter flights related to nine incidents, eight of them civilian. Three involved medivacs, and one a search for a boat emitting a distress signal. In all, 33 flight hours were expended.

For the 11 years between 1983 and 1994, NAS Bermuda averaged 9.9 incidents per year involving 12.4 helicopter flights. There was an average of 6.6 medivacs per year, and 1.1 people rescued from boats. Average flight hours were 27.6.

More than 70 percent of the Navy's SAR work -- provided to Bermuda without charge -- was civilian.

Lt. Wheeler said the US Navy was only "a small part of what's already in place'' in terms of SAR in Bermuda. Harbour Radio, the US Coast Guard, and Marine Police all played a role in Bermuda's SAR plan, he said.

Bermuda was part of the responsibility of the Coast Guard's Atlantic area based in New York, and that would continue after the Navy left, Lt. Wheeler said.

They cautioned that Bermuda had no military requirement to perform search and rescue. It was more of a "moral'' obligation, though it also had implications for Bermuda as a cruise ship and cargo port.

If Bermuda only had fixed-wing aircraft, and no helicopters, it would not be able to pluck people from a vessel or the sea into an aircraft.

Locally, Bermuda Helicopters Ltd. president Mr. Michael Smatt has flown a search and rescue helicopter at the Bell plant and has also expressed interest.

Mr. Smatt said his company was "quite capable of fulfilling any requirement ... Government proposes, but they first must establish what their needs are''.

"It may require additional staff and additional equipment, but nevertheless the service could be provided,'' he said.

The Navy was dubious about a proposal from a company that was in the helicopter sightseeing business.

Unless someone performing search and rescue was properly trained, "what you end up with is a helicopter in the water and some more people who need to be rescued,'' said Cdr. Link.

NAVY RESCUE -- Lt. John Wheeler, the US Naval Air Station's search and rescue officer.