Honored Crew Rescued Three During 36-Foot Seas, 50 Knot
Winds
AgustaWestland announced Monday that the crew of "Rescue 912"
from Canadian Forces Squadron 103 in Gander, Newfoundland has been
selected as the winner of the 2010 Cormorant Trophy for Helicopter
Rescue.
(L-R) Kent Gulliford, Steve Reid, Priscilla Jobin, Brad
Lawrence and Morgan Biderman
The winning search and rescue crew
comprising Major Steve Reid of Centreville, Nova Scotia; Captain
Priscilla Jobin of Ste-Foy, Quebec; Sergeants Brad Lawrence of
Gander, Newfoundland, and Morgan Biderman of
Penticton, B.C.; and Sergeant Kent Gulliford of Kamloops, B.C. The
award was presented Friday night at the annual SAREX competition in
Whitehorse, Yukon by Jeremy Tracy, AgustaWestland Head of Region -
Canada and Chief Test Pilot. The Cormorant Trophy for Helicopter
Rescue recognizes the Canadian civilian, government or military
crew that has performed the most demanding helicopter rescue of the
year.
"This rescue stood as this year's top example of the selfless
dedication of the professionals who risk their lives daily for the
safety of Canadians and others across Canada and offshore," said
Mr. Tracy. "All of this year's nominees exemplified the bravery and
capabilities of the search and rescue community, particularly those
invariably flying into the most treacherous weather conditions
imaginable, the most inhospitable terrain or seas, dangling from
the end of a line hanging from a helicopter or some other
physically demanding task that virtually no other Canadian would
imagine."
On October 24, 2009, a CH-148 Cormorant helicopter from 103 SAR
Squadron (Rescue 912) responded to a Mayday call from the shrimp
vessel Seafaring Legend. The distress call indicated that the
vessel had taken an unexpected wave at its stern and was rapidly
taking on water. The four-person crew was forced to abandon ship
into the open ocean approximately 90 nautical miles north of Fogo
Island, Newfoundland. Three of the four people on board were able
to don immersion suits and, with great difficulty, eventually
climbed into two separate life rafts. The fourth person was unable
to don his survival suit before the vessel went down, and
tragically, did not survive.
Rescue 912 arrived on scene after flying 130 nautical miles from
Gander to the incident location. Upon arrival, the crew of Rescue
912 were faced with never-before-seen circumstances. Every
available tool and experience would be required to recover the
three survivors from the two life rafts given the tremendous sea
state and gale force winds. As confirmed by the Captain of a nearby
Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary vessel, the waves were averaging 36
feet, while the displays in the cockpit indicated that the wind
speed was sustained at 35 knots with gusts up to 50 knots.
Cormorant Rescue File Photo
A hoist sequence to a life raft can be very difficult under
benign circumstances as the target is neither stationary, nor is it
visible from the cockpit making an accurate hover virtually
impossible. On this day, the life rafts were subject to immense
swells and significant drift such that the rafts would fall into
the troughs and then accelerate both down the front and the
backside of each approaching or passing wave. This was an in
incredibly difficult scenario which falls well outside the limits
the search and rescue community would consider safe for training.
Faced with these conditions, Flight Engineer Sergeant Brad Lawrence
experienced great difficulty managing the cable such that the SAR
Techs, Sergeants Morgan Biderman and Kent Gulliford, would
remain just above the undulating surface as he provided directional
voice commands to Major Steve Davis and Captain Priscilla Jobin at
the controls of the AW101 helicopter. Not surprisingly, there were
a few instances when the SAR Techs were dunked well under water and
then catapulted back into the air as the wave passed by.
A concentrated team effort between the cockpit crew, the Flight
Engineer in the rescue door (providing voice direction, hover trim
control manipulation and hoist cable management) and the SAR Techs
on the hook (using hand signals and then swimming with all they
were worth while still attached to the cable) resulted in all three
survivors being hoisted to safety. They also recovered the body of
the fourth crew member.
The Cormorant Trophy is named after the AW101 (former EH101)
"Cormorant" medium-heavy lift helicopter used as the Canadian
Forces' primary search and rescue helicopter.