Flight Safety success story

Sgt Hotton (on the right) and Cpl Leblanc are members of 413 Search and Rescue Sqn based at 14 Wing Greenwood.

Air Force members prevent incident in St. John’s

The goal of the Canadian Flight Safety system is to investigate military aviation incidents and accidents, and to make recommendations to help prevent them from happening in the future, not to assign blame.
            The Canadian Forces Flight Safety system is one of the most effective and respected in the world. Its goal is not to assign blame, but rather to determine the causes of accidents and to make recommendations to help prevent accidents in the future.   
            Today, we feature a success story taken from the most recent issue of “Flight Comment” Magazine about two keen-eyed members who spotted a potential disaster and took preventive action.

Sergeant André Hotton and Corporal Stephan Leblanc

In August 2004, while aiding another crew member perform maintenance on a CC-130 Hercules on the government ramp in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Sergeant André Hotton and Corporal Stephan Leblanc noticed a civilian water bomber starting up only 50 feet in front of their aircraft. 

Within seconds, a stream of fuel venting from the water bomber’s rear engine ignited and produced a six-foot diameter flash fire under the aircraft.  Both members immediately ran to the front of the aircraft and attempted to get the attention of the lone crewmember.  While Corporal Leblanc stayed in front giving the “fire” hand signal to the Flight Engineer (FE) of the water bomber, Sergeant Hotton proceeded to the open crew door to alert the FE.  Realizing the FE did not understand the signal, Corporal Leblanc ran to the crew door to aid Sergeant Hotton in evacuating the aircraft.  Now aware of the fire, the FE shut down the aircraft prior to all three exiting to safety.  With the fire dissipating, the St. John’s Airport Crash and Fire Service arrived.

The speed and skill with which Corporal Leblanc and Sergeant Hotton reacted to this grave situation was exceptional.  They went above and beyond the call of duty and there is little doubt that their intervention prevented serious injury to a fellow aviator, prevented the destruction of a civilian aircraft and saved the nearby Canadian Forces Hercules from damage or potentially, complete loss.