The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) recently deployed its search-and-rescue (SAR) and air mobility capabilities to Northern Ontario in support of a major disaster response exercise.
Approximately 50 RCAF personnel are present around Cochrane, Kapuskasing, and Hearst from February 20 to 25 to participate in Exercise TRILLIUM RESPONSE 2012 (Ex TR 12), a training exercise that aims to further enhance Canadian Forces (CF) quick response capability to assist Canadians when needed.
"Were here to provide air mobility support for the exercise and also to practice our SAR capabilities in a remote northern environment during winter," said Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Hill, head of Joint Task Force Central (JTFC) Air Component Coordination Element (Central). "Our airmen and airwomen are proud to be active players in this exercise and were glad to be working closely with more than five hundred soldiers from the greater Toronto area, CFB Petawawa, and the Canadian Rangers."
Organized by JTFC, Ex TR 12 is a large, joint regional exercise that revolves around a simulated large commercial aircraft crash outside of Cochrane in the Mistango Lake area, and a smaller aircraft crash northwest of Hearst near Constance Lake. No actual aircraft were crashed as part of the exercise.
"The exercise scenarios and our activities are very realistic so we can test our capabilities and find ways to further improve them," said Captain John Valade, JTFC ACCE© Operations Planner. "Were providing airlift to the Immediate Response Unit (IRU) from the Royal Canadian Dragoons out of CFB Petawawa into Cochrane, using a Beachcraft 200 aircraft from the Multi-Engine Utility Flight from 8 Wing Trenton. We are also using two CH-146 Griffon helicopters from 1 Wing Kingston to transport the IRU Commander and his team to Cochrane airport."
Air deployments in support of the exercise are CH-146 Griffons and aircrew from 400 Tactical Helicopter Squadron
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=...10827/117/
|
![[-]](images/thecure/collapse.gif)