Features

By Holly Bridges

There is nothing routine about saving lives.  Just ask CH-146 Griffon Flight Engineer Master Corporal Ron Mann. 

Although he has been with 444 Combat Support Squadron at 5 Wing Goose Bay for the past three years, he performed his first operational, live, nighttime hoist maneuver last Tuesday night to rescue an American float plane pilot who crashed on a remote pond in Labrador near Wabush.  Crews found the pilot warming himself by a fire when they arrived on scene. He was later hoisted aboard the CH-146 Griffon and transported to hospital.

The mission allowed MCpl Mann to put his training to the test, help save a life and return home safely to his family.  For MCpl Mann, there was nothing routine about that.

"It was great.  The best part was walking into the house at 7:30 in the morning after an 18-hour day, flying all night long through snow squalls and total darkness, and have my children ask me, ‘Did you get him, Dad?'  ‘We got him,' I told them. ‘He's alive and well and coming home to his family.' They were so proud and happy.  That was the best part of my trip. It made it all worthwhile."

The Commanding Officer of 444 Sqn, Major Charles Eidt, says although the actual flying and rescue sequences were fairly straightforward, it was demanding, nonetheless.  The squadron has undergone a complete change of aircrew this summer due to the annual posting season, and some of the crewmembers have only been with the squadron for a matter of weeks or months.  For some, it was their first SAR mission ever, having worked in other Air Force roles over the years.

"For half the crew this was their first operational SAR mission on board the Griffon, so it was very significant," says Maj Eidt. "We responded within two hours of getting the call, the conditions were challenging, our personnel are still getting used to their new posting, so I was very impressed with their dedication and the skills they brought to the mission. The group performed magnificently."

For First Officer Captain Danny Poitras, whose background is strictly tactical helicopter aviation, the mission was something entirely new.

"I loved it. It was a good introduction to SAR for me, that's for sure. The team work was just incredible," says Capt Poitras, who until two months ago was a tactical helicopter training instructor with 403 Helicopter Operational Training Squadron at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown. "The flying was very, very different from what I was doing in Gagetown."

            Three hours before Capt Poitras and the crew arrived on scene, two SAR Techs from 14 Wing Greenwood, Sergeant Ben House and Master Corporal Rob Hardie, parachuted from a CC-130 Hercules from 14 Wing Greenwood and tended to the casualty until he was ready to be hoisted into the helicopter.  After arriving on scene, the Griffon crew dropped a third SAR Tech, Sergeant Derek Rogers, down to the scene to help prepare the casualty for transport. 

            "The mission was a really good example of how so many different units can be called out on one of these missions, " says Sgt Rogers.  "When we arrive at one of these crash sites we never know what to expect, if the guy's going to be banged up, or not alive, but in this case, it was great to know he survived. The guys from Greenwood were able to determine that pretty much right away."

Aircraft Commander Alain Matteau spoke to the pilot shortly after the rescue and reports he was  "a little distraught from what happened but very happy to be alive. He's a very lucky man."

Officials from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax said the pilot radioed for help after apparently losing power and tried to set down the floatplane, possibly clipping a tree as it went in. The plane flipped over but the pilot managed to escape and walk to shore until rescuers arrived.