 CAPTAIN MAUREEN CRABB
CAPTAIN TARA LANGLEY
CORPORAL LUANA VAN GENT
On Saturday the 8th November 2003 at approximately 2300hrs, Captain Crabb was the duty Tower Controller at 4 Wing Cold Lake. At that time, she encountered a civilian aircraft that was apparently lost. The pilot had requested tower extend his flight plan by 30 minutes. The pilot thought he was just north of Cold Lake (the actual lake). Captain Crabb viewed the Radar Situation Display (RSD) and correlated it with the Direction Finder (DF) and concluded the pilot was unsure of his actual location, as the information did not correspond with where the pilot thought he was. Captain Crabb contacted Cold Lake Terminal to see if they were receiving any raw radar returns, as the aircraft reported not having a transponder. Captain Langley, the duty Terminal Controller, scanned the radar scope and the only raw returns she saw were two weak returns approximately 21 miles south, traveling very slow. Captain Langley asked Captain Crabb to instruct the aircraft to climb in order to receive a better radar return. At this point, both controllers believed the aircraft was actually one of the radar returns to the south of Cold Lake. Also working at this time was Corporal Van Gent, a Precision Approach Radar (PAR) controller, who had also just received her civilian Visual Flight Rules (VFR) pilot's licence hour's prior. She informed Captain's Crabb and Langley that Frog Lake was in the vicinity of the raw return. She emphasized her belief that the pilot was mistaking Frog Lake for Cold Lake. Captain's Crabb and Langley worked together to issue the pilot a series of "suggested VFR headings" to positively identify the lost aircraft. Once identified, the controllers correlated all available information from the DF and RSD and issued a series of VFR headings towards the base. Captain Crabb turned on the runway lights and strobes to full strength to assist the pilot in visually identifying the location of 4 Wing. When the aircraft was approximately 6 miles south, the pilot reported the Cold Lake runways visual and continued to the Regional airport (approximately 4 miles north east of Cold Lake) without further incident.
When Captain Crabb realized that the position report given by the pilot did not coincide with the information given by the direction finder (DF ), she quickly enlisted the assistance of the Terminal crew. Together, they were able to ascertain the true position of the lost aircraft and render the assistance required to get the lost pilot home. Combining the best attributes of teamwork by utilizing professional and personal knowledge and skills, Captain Crabb, Captain Langley and Corporal Van Gent are to be commended for preventing the situation from deteriorating to a potentially hazardous emergency.
Captain Crabb, Captain Langley, and Corporal Van Gent are still serving with WOPS, 4 Wing Cold Lake.
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