2006 News

Captain Sonia Dumouchel-Connock
12 Wing Public Affairs Officer

DARTMOUTH, N.S. - What could be more challenging than operating a helicopter from a sea-going platform that is in constant motion? 

For members of Canada's Maritime Helicopter community, working in this demanding sea environment while embarked on a Navy frigate or destroyer is their "bread and butter."  Regularly- held training exercises involving ship and helicopter crews take place at sea to ensure air personnel and sailors acquire and maintain the skills and knowledge required to effectively carry out Sea King helicopter operations at sea.

During Exercise SALTY DIP, a biannual training exercise whose fall session took place in mid-September in the waters surrounding Halifax, a 12 Wing Shearwater Helicopter Air Detachment (HELAIRDET) went to sea with its ship, HMCS Halifax, to practice a number of helicopter evolutions, or missions, at sea. 

Members of HMCS Halifax's HELAIRDET ground crew on the flight deck of the ship during Exercise SALTY DIP.  The weeklong training exercise, which took place in the waters surrounding Halifax on Sept. 11-15, ensures air personnel and sailors acquire and maintain the skills and knowledge required to effectively carry out Sea King helicopter operations at sea.  Front row, left to right: Cpl Chris Lafosse, Cpl Rob Bird.  Rear row, left to right: Cpl Allan Chippett, MCpl Martin Servant, MCpl David Freitag, MCpl Dave Rees.  Picture by Cpl Claude Flibotte  » View more Salty Dip images

The exercise consisted of a multitude of evolutions designed to train all occupations associated with embarked operations," explains Captain Alain Lafrenière, the HMCS Halifax HELAIRDET Commander.  "Pilots conducted approaches to the ship, had dedicated deck landing sessions, and acted as Landing Signal Officer. Air navigators and Airborne Electronic Sensor Operators (AESOPS) practiced deck evolutions, such as hoisting from the ship, vertical replenishment and helicopter in-flight refueling . SALTY DIP was also a very good opportunity for aircraft maintainers of the HELAIRDET, and for the firefighters from the ship to practice and maintain proficiency in their duties while the ship was at flying stations."

Every SALTY DIP is different as each exercise is tailored to the needs of the helicopter and navy fleets at that given moment, says Capt Lafrenière. 

"Traditionally, the spring SALTY DIP is Nnavy fleet requirement oriented, and the exercise in the fall is 12 Wing requirement oriented," he says the DET Commander.  "Of course, concurrent training that meets the requirements of both sailors and air personnel is done whenever possible. If the priority is completing a dedicated deck landing session for a pilot, we can start with a ship-controlled radar approach to train the Shipborne Air Controller (SAC), while a new senior firefighter is trained to be a Flying Coordinator, for example."

Exercise SALTY DIP tests the ability of crews to marry the flying program, the ship's program, and the Wing's operations schedule, as well as its ability to react quickly to changes in weather and ship and aircraft serviceability and capabilities issues.

"SALTY DIP is an exercise that takes place in a very dynamic environment with so many variables that can change at any time," explains Capt. Lafrenière. "We need to be able to quickly change and adapt the plan so as not to loose any precious training opportunities."

Not surprisingly, then, every day of this weeklong training exercise was challenging and involved long workdays.  At 12 Wing, 423 Maritime Helicopter (MH) Squadron's Operational and Readiness cells put a lot of work into planning and executing the ashore support to the exercise. 

Maintainers at 423 MH Squadron ensured that aircraft were available to fly from the Wing to the ship to take part in the exercise, while the 15 HELAIRDET maintainers embarked during the exercise were ready to conduct any deck evolution - launch and recovery, HIFR, VERTREP, or hoisting - at a moment's notice.

Six embarked HELAIRDET aircrew flew each day of the exercise, and approximately 20 more aircrew flew Sea Kings from 12 Wing to the ship to conduct training and currency evolutions.

Members of the ship were equally busy. Ship's personnel maintained flying stations for 8 to-12 hours a day, and many sailors spent a day closed up in firefighting gear or acted as part of the deck crew assisting with the helicopter-related deck evolution.

While it's true that helicopter operations on the high seas is challenging work, exercises like SALTY DIP help to ensure that Navy and Air personnel are always ready to meet these challenges and that helicopter operations at sea are second nature to ship and air personnel.

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