"For
over fifty years the men and women of Canadian Forces Search and Rescue
have met the challenge of locating and assisting Canadians in need.
Their consummate skill and devotion to duty have made Canada's SAR
system one of the best and most advanced in the world."
- Belt of
Orion Award citation, 1998
For more than fifty years, Canadian Forces Search and
Rescue (SAR) personnel have been a proud part of this country's military
community. Canada's SAR program is recognized as a world leader and
innovator in this essential area of humanitarian service.
In 1947 the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was given
the responsibility for the provision of air resources to respond to air
and marine incidents and in 1951, was tasked with the responsibility for
the overall coordination of SAR in Canada.
Early aircraft and boats were not equipped with
emergency radio beacons and search crews relied solely on visual
indicators to locate those in distress. Later, with the invention and
subsequent widespread use of Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELT's),
search aircraft were able to conduct these searches electronically. In
the early 1980's, a world wide satellite system, COSPAS-SARSAT, was
developed jointly with the governments of France, Russia and the United
States, which enabled search aircraft to respond more quickly and
accurately to distress calls and greatly improved the chances of
survival. Canadian Forces Base Trenton (8 Wing) acts as the Canadian
Mission Control Centre and is Canada's link to the COSPAS-SARSAT
satellite-based rescue alerting system.
SARSAT stands for Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided
Tracking. COSPAS is the Russian equivalent, which stands for 'the search
for vessels in distress'.
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Persons who are injured or in distress need help,
fast. Every hour counts if they are to survive, but they must be found
first before they can be helped. In a country such as Canada, with its
immense distances, rugged terrain and often harsh climate, that can be
difficult. The results of studies have shown that even those persons who
have survived an initial accident have less than a ten percent chance of
survival in winter if the rescue is delayed beyond two days. If the
rescue is accomplished within eight hours, their survival rate increases
dramatically to more than 50 percent.
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Fortunately, the combination of reliable
communication signals and well-trained SAR personnel has resulted in
many people being saved who otherwise may have died.
The military component of Canada's Search and Rescue
team is made up of more than 650 Canadian Forces personnel in three
classifications: aircrew, groundcrew and air controllers. The aircrew
include pilots, air navigators, flight engineers, loadmasters, and
search and rescue technicians. The ground crew are composed of aviation,
avionics and structures technicians. All Rescue Coordination Centre Air
Controllers are experienced pilots and navigators.
An average of 1,500 - 2,000 missions are conducted
annually by aircraft and personnel located at five primary SAR units:
103 Search and Rescue Squadron at Gander, Newfoundland
413 Transport
and Rescue Squadron at Greenwood, Nova Scotia
424 Transport and Rescue
Squadron at Trenton, Ontario
435 Transport and Rescue Squadron at
Winnipeg, Manitoba
442 Transport and Rescue Squadron at Comox,
British Columbia
Missions are coordinated by three Rescue Coordination
Centres (RCC's) located at Halifax, Trenton and Victoria.
Annually, more than 7,000 incidents are coordinated
by the RCC's, which are jointly manned by Canadian Forces and Canadian
Coast Guard SAR experienced personnel.
In addition to the professional military members,
civilian volunteers make up a large portion of the SAR team. The Civi
Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) and the Canadian Coast Guard
Auxiliary (CCGA) are volunteer organizations which provide equipment and
trained personnel to assist in SAR operations.
The Belt of Orion Award for Excellence was bestowed
upon Canadian Forces Search and Rescue personnel, past and present, in
1998.
