The Longest SAR
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The Longest SAR by Adam D. Hunt A novel 1 by Adam D. Hunt Second Edition January 2014 Published by QQ Books, Ottawa Ontario This book is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada (CC BY-SA 2.5) licence You are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work, to make derivative works, to make commercial use of the work Under the following conditions: • Attribution — You must give the original author credit. • Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to this one. Notice This is a work of fiction. While the Canadian Forces units involved, the aircraft and some of the locations actually existed much as described in the period in which the book is set, the characters, dialog and events described are entirely my own invention. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, real conversations or events is purely a coincidence. Software This book was written on the OpenOffice.org Writer free, open source word processor, running on the Ubuntu Linux operating system. You can download the entire Open Office.org suite for free at www.openoffice.org Dedication To my mother, Audrey R.B. Hubber, who made this project possible and to my wife, partner and companion Ruth, for her unfailing support, encouragement and editing skills. Cover Illustration 442 Squadron CC-115 Buffalo, serial number 115462. Photo by the author. Other Books by Adam Hunt • COPA Guide to Amateur-Builts • COPA Guide to Buying an Aircraft • COPA Guide to Certified Aircraft • COPA Guide to Getting Back Into Flying • COPA Guide to Public Airports • COPA Guide to the Limited Class • COPA Guide to the Owner-Maintenance Aircraft Category • COPA Guide to Ultralights • M.E.E.T. - Manager Employee Effectiveness Training cowritten with Ruth Merkis-Hunt 2 Introduction This is the novel that I wanted to write for 27 years. That is a long time to carry around an outline in your head without actually writing the book! The idea for this book came to me while on a search in Bella Coola, BC in 1983. It has been itching to be written ever since. What has prevented it has been not a lack of inspiration, but that usual and mundane nemesis of all writers, lack of time. The usual consumers of time: a career as a military helicopter pilot, several subsequent flying and non-flying jobs, families, marriages and one divorce have all eaten up the time that could have been spent writing this book. Instead I have had to settle for writing a number of much shorter articles and a collection of non-fiction books. I must confess that those were all quicker to write than a long novel and, as many were demanded as part of paid employment, they got done first. By January 1st, 2008 all those preventers of novels were mostly gone from my life and at last I had the time and most important of all, a supportive partner, to start this book. In writing this book I have tried to make it as close as possible to the military SAR procedures in use at the time and as true to the time and places in which it is set. When I first conceived of the book the setting was “now”, but the mid-1980s are now distant history and much has changed in the world since. Any mistakes and inaccuracies are entirely my own. Adam Hunt Ottawa, Ontario March 2010 3 Glossary This type of story necessarily requires the use of terms that are in common use in military and aviation but may be unfamiliar to the casual reader. Some of these terms can be explained in the context of the story, but in many cases it would break up the dialog to do so. To fill in the gaps here is a glossary of terms used in this book. 10 TAG – 10 Tactical Air Group – that part of the air force that the tactical helicopters belong to. ADF - Automatic Direction Finding – a cockpit navigation aid that points towards NDBs (qv). Adm Clerk – Administration Clerk. AME – a civilian Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, someone who repairs and maintains aircraft. AirCom HQ – Air Command Headquarters, the air force's headquarters at CFB Winnipeg. AStar – The Aérospatiale AS350 Astar six seat helicopter ATGHQ – Air Transport Group Headquarters, CFB Trenton, Ontario. Avgas – Aviation gasoline. Base Ops – Base Operations, the operational command post for flight operations on a flying base. Buff – see CC-115 Buffalo. CASB - Canadian Aviation Safety Board, the federal government's civil aircraft accident investigation body. It was replaced in 1990 by the Transportation Safety Board. CC-115 Buffalo – CF designation for the de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo twin engine STOL transport airplane. CC-119 “Flying Boxcar” - The CF designation for the Fairchild C-119 Packet, twin engine and twin tail boom flying freighter. The RCAF operated this type from 1952 to 1965, when it was replaced by the CC-130 Hercules. CC-130 Hercules – The CF designation for the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, four engine tactical transport aircraft. CC-138 Twin Otter – The CF designation for the de Havilland DHC-6 twin-engine STOL transport airplane. Cessna 172 Skyhawk– single engine, 150 horsepower, four seat, high wing light civil aircraft. A very common private aircraft and favoured for 4 searched due to its good downward visibility. Cessna 182 Skylane– single engine, 230 horsepower, four seat, high wing light civil aircraft. Common private aircraft and favoured for searches due to its good downward visibility. Cessna 185 Skywagon - single engine 300 horsepower, six seat, high wing light civil aircraft, often seen on floats or amphibious floats. Cessna 206 Stationair- single engine, 300 horsepower, six seat, high wing light civil aircraft, favoured for searched due to its good downward visibility. Cessna 310 – a six seat, twin engined light aircraft manufactured by Cessna Aircraft of Wichita Kansas between 1954 and 1980. Favoured by commercial charter companies. CF – Canadian Forces, Canada's navy, army and air forces. CFB – Canadian Forces Base. CFS – Canadian Forces Station. CF-101 Voodoo – CF designation for the McDonnell F-101B Voodoo, two seat supersonic fighter, used by all-weather fighter squadrons from 1961 to June 1984. CH-113 Labrador – CF designation for the the Boeing Vertol Model 107 tandem rotor rescue helicopter used by the Transport and Rescue squadrons. Served in the CF between 1962 and 2004. CH-135 Twin Huey – CF designation for the Bell Model 212 twin-engined version of the Huey helicopter. Served in Tactical Helicopter, Base Rescue and utility squadrons between 1971 and 1998. CH-136 Kiowa – CF designation for the military version of the Bell 206 Jet Ranger, used in the observation role with Tactical Helicopter squadrons between 1971 and 1996. CMCC - Canadian Mission Control Centre, the office at CFB Trenton, Ontario that monitors SARSAT ELT signals for Canada. CO – Commanding Officer. Det Commander – Detachment Commander. DF-88 – Direction Finding radio installed in many different types of aircraft – able to home an ELT signal. DFS – Directorate of Flight Safety, a part of National Defence Headquarters responsible for aviation safety programs and accident investigations. DME – Distance Measuring Equipment, reports aircraft distance from the transmitter in slant-range nautical miles. 50 DME is 50 nautical miles, 58 5 statute miles or 93 kilometres. DND – Department of National Defence. DNDOI - Department of National Defence Office of Information – the military regional public affairs staff. EGT – Exhaust Gas Temperature – in the summer the power limiting factor on the Kiowa helicopter. ELT – Emergency Locater Transmitter, a small radio required to be carried in most aircraft, that emits an intermittent tone that can be homed usually on 121.5 MHz and 243.0 MHz. Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante – Twin turboprop 15-21 seat passenger aircraft, built in Brazil FBO – Fixed Base Operator, a civil aviation fuelling facility, usually including a lounge and terminal facilities Fin Clerk – Finance Clerk HF – High Frequency radio, static-prone but the best way to communicate over longer distances. Used for air-to-ground communications. ICBC – Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, socialized car insurance, sold though private brokers in the province. IFR – Instrument Flight Rules, flight by instruments, including flying in clouds. ILS – Instrument Landing System, a 1940s vintage electronic guidance system that provides lateral localizer and vertical glideslope information to allow an aircraft to land in poor weather conditions. JAG – Judge Advocate General, the military legal department. Lab – see CH-113 Labrador. Lima-Lima – military radio terminology for land-line, meaning a regular wired telephone. Medevac – Medical Evacuation flight. Met Tech – Meteorological Technician, military trade that specializes in weather observing and briefing. MOTV - Modified Offset and Track Variable, a scientific method of calculating the optimal area to search during a SAR, developed in the 1970s. This was replaced by a new method based on updated research in 1991, the Canadian Search Area Definition (CSAD). NCO – Non-commissioned officer. In the CF, the ranks from Master Corporal to Chief Warrant Officer. NDHQ – National Defence Headquarters, located in Ottawa NDB – Non-Directional Beacon, a radio transmitter that broadcasts for 6 aviation navigational use. See also “ADF” NOCL – Notice of Crash Location, a radio message in code, sent by a search aircraft to Search HQ, giving details of a crash site found. NOK – Next-of-kin – the nearest relatives of the missing aircraft crew and passengers. NOTAM – Notice To Airmen, Transport Canada bulletins to pilots warning them of hazards, runway closures and similar items. OJT – On the Job Training, usually applied to Officer Cadets parked in menial jobs answering telephone calls and doing photocopying, while awaiting the start of their flight training.