0:00:08 > 0:00:12I'm with the Royal Air Force search and rescue team based on Anglesey.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14These guys patrol
0:00:14 > 0:00:18the coastline of the Irish Sea and, this time, we are exploring their patch.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56That's RAF Valley down there.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58If the runway was any longer, it would be in the sea!
0:01:00 > 0:01:04From up here, you can see why this is a great location for the headquarters
0:01:04 > 0:01:08of the Royal Air Force search and rescue service.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14I'm going to hitch a ride with them later to relive one of their most hair-raising rescues.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20The RAF search and rescue helicopters do not have the sky above Anglesey to themselves.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29These runways see more than 100 sorties a day.
0:01:31 > 0:01:37None of the 60 hot jets based at Valley ever sees combat, but they could not be more vital to the RAF.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44This place is known by some as 'the pilot factory'.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49It's where the creme de la creme of RAF recruits come to learn how to handle fast jets.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57Only one in 40 hopefuls makes it to RAF Valley for pilot training.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02Then, it takes four years of hard graft to master their craft.
0:02:06 > 0:02:12To find out why the coast is the ideal spot for training pilots, I'm joining the ranks.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Yes! I'm going up.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19I've been fitted with my flight suit and I'm feeling...nervous.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26- Good to go?- Right. I'm good to go. - Right, let's go.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31'Armed with some fireproof gloves, a life vest and a huge sense of trepidation,
0:02:31 > 0:02:36'I'm about to put my life in the hands of my pilot, Squadron Leader Ed Thomas.'
0:02:36 > 0:02:41Ed, why is RAF Valley right out here on the edge of everything, on the coast?
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Well, believe it or not, looking at the weather today,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48the weather here is actually very good for a lot of the year,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51so with the westerly airflow, we get a lot of clear spells.
0:03:03 > 0:03:09We're expecting to travel from Anglesey to Blackpool at speeds touching 600 mph.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11- Here we go.- Here we go, indeed!
0:03:11 > 0:03:14It'll get noisy now, because we'll wind the engine up.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19- Wow!- Ha-ha!
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Ho-ho, yes!
0:03:25 > 0:03:28- There we go, safely airborne. - Oh, look there's the sea.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Yes, it's a good sea today.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34This is where you'll feel the first sensation of G.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Wow, yes!
0:03:36 > 0:03:38I'm definitely feeling G!
0:03:38 > 0:03:42The camera in my hands suddenly feels like about 20kg.
0:03:42 > 0:03:43That's right.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47'Low-level flying is one of the RAF's most important tactics,
0:03:47 > 0:03:52'so where better to learn how low you can go than over the sea?'
0:03:53 > 0:03:56How high are we flying at the moment?
0:03:56 > 0:03:57I reckon about 600 feet or so.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01It feels a lot lower when the sea's coming towards you.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04We're just flying over the tip of Puffin Island,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06which I'll try and show you now.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10That's Puffin Island, and we're going past it so quickly,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12I hardly get the chance to show it to you.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17'With Llandudno and Rhyl coming up, it's a reminder that this coast
0:04:17 > 0:04:21'has some great resorts - classic seaside towns.'
0:04:22 > 0:04:24Say hello to Llandudno!
0:04:31 > 0:04:34CONTROL: Be advised, a wind farm ahead of you, by about four miles.
0:04:35 > 0:04:41- Oh, that's fantastic! - Yeah, getting them out here is a bit of a job, I think!
0:04:41 > 0:04:42That's amazing.
0:04:42 > 0:04:48I used to watch these planes all the time and think that the guys in them had the best jobs in the world.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50- Yeah.- You DO have the best job in the world.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54'For me, this is extraordinary...
0:04:59 > 0:05:06'..but for the pilots, it's just part of the daily routine that turns raw recruits into frontline flyers.'
0:05:08 > 0:05:13- Here's sunny Blackpool. Not so sunny today.- No.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15'The weather down below isn't so great,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19but there's one place the sun always shines.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22There we are, as promised, on top of the clouds.
0:05:22 > 0:05:28- Wow. It's funny being reminded that even on the cloudiest day, up here it's always the same blue.- Yeah.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34Not even a day trip - Anglesey to Blackpool and back in just under half an hour.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Still, what do you expect from a flying visit(?)
0:05:44 > 0:05:46- Brilliant. - There we are.- Brilliant.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Off the coast at Blackpool a near disaster.
0:05:56 > 0:06:02A freak wave left this ferry from Northern Island on the beach.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08When the Riverdance ferry got into trouble in the Irish Sea,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10a huge rescue operation was launched...
0:06:12 > 0:06:16..co-ordinated by the local coastguard,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20which is when the search and rescue team from RAF Valley was scrambled.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29This footage was recorded in pitch darkness by the team's night vision cameras
0:06:29 > 0:06:32and shows the horrendous conditions they faced.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39'They've flown back to the scene to talk me through one of their most spectacular rescues.'
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Flight Lieutenant Giles Radcliffe was the co-pilot.
0:06:44 > 0:06:50So talk me through what happened on the night that the people on the Riverdance had to be rescued.
0:06:50 > 0:06:51We were called out about 8.30
0:06:51 > 0:06:54and it took us about 20 minutes to get here
0:06:54 > 0:06:57and then we found the Riverdance, the ferry.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01We've got a significant list to the port.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Oh, yes, that's a bit of a list.
0:07:03 > 0:07:09It was in quite a predicament really. It was leaning about 60 degrees to port, both its engines had stopped
0:07:09 > 0:07:12- and the captain wanted people taken off.- What was the weather?
0:07:12 > 0:07:14The wind was gusting up to about 70 knots.
0:07:14 > 0:07:20The sea state? The waves were the size of houses - about 20 foot.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23The worst conditions I've flown in since I've been at Valley.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27And so what were you required to do in terms of getting people off?
0:07:27 > 0:07:30We ended up coming up with a plan whereby people were lowered out
0:07:30 > 0:07:35from the wheelhouse onto the low side of the vessel, and we were able to winch them up from there.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38The boat was moving around a lot, we had to be very close to the boat,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42close to the masts, so there was the potential to come into contact
0:07:42 > 0:07:46with the boat. That wouldn't be nice. It was certainly a pretty bad night.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49It could have been worse, but thankfully it wasn't.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56After it washed ashore, the ship became a local celebrity.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06By the time you watch this programme this scene will be gone forever, but for me it's a fantastic
0:08:06 > 0:08:14opportunity to find out just how you go about moving over 3,000 tonnes of ferry off of a beach.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23Overseeing the gargantuan task of removing this maritime relic
0:08:23 > 0:08:27from Blackpool's beach is salvage expert, Donald McDonald.
0:08:29 > 0:08:36When you're confronted with this, how do you even start to work out how you're going to get rid of it?
0:08:36 > 0:08:39In the early stages, we didn't anticipate this,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43the early stages were a case of getting the vessel re-floated
0:08:43 > 0:08:47and to take her back to sea. And despite all our efforts, she remained there.
0:08:47 > 0:08:52Latterly, at the end of March, we had a very severe storm, which finished any salvage operation.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54So what's happening now is the last resort?
0:08:54 > 0:08:59This is a last resort, because in the United Kingdom we don't cut up ships on beaches.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03- And, of course, you have the tide to deal with?- At this time, we've got a spring tide,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07so we get a bit of time to work - up to about 5.5 hours per tide.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Next week, we might not get near the ship.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13There is something that affects you, seeing a big ship like this
0:09:13 > 0:09:17lying on its side. It kind of gets you in your stomach.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22A ship should be upright floating, not lying on its side being cut into small pieces.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25As a merchant seaman, I could sympathise with this ship.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29However, we'll do our best, we'll give her a tidy end.
0:09:35 > 0:09:42Today, there's barely a scrap of the Riverdance left at its last port of call on Blackpool's beach.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:09:47 > 0:09:50E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk