Tag Archives: Royal Canadian Air Force

Halifax search and rescue crew fly patient to St. John’s after medical incident on fishing boat

A video posted to the Halifax Joint Rescue Coordination Centre’s social media shows a Royal Canadian Air Force search and rescue crew out of halifax which flew 380 kilometres to a patient in medical distress on a fishing boat on August 8, 2023. The Cormorant, a long-range helicopter, had to stop to refuel at Hibernia before flying to a hospital in St. John’s. >click to watch< 10:41

‘Definitely the most difficult rescue I have been on’ recalls a rescuer of F/V Atlantic Destiny crew

Daniel Domonkos will always remember the moment he and his SAR tech crew first laid eyes on the ill-fated F/V Atlantic Destiny a year ago. Seeing the stricken vessel being tossed around in the waves “like a little toy,” the flight engineer immediately wondered, “How are we supposed to get anyone off that boat?” And not just one person, but 31 of them. It was a miraculous scene that later played out at the Yarmouth International Airport as crew members of the Atlantic Destiny and their rescuers stepped out of helicopters to safety, the warmth of those moments only interrupted by the bone-chilling bitter cold. Photos, Video, >click to read< 08:08

UPDATED: Spanish fishing boat sinks off Canada; 7 dead, 14 missing

A Spanish fishing boat sank early Tuesday in rough seas off Newfoundland,,, The 50-meter (164-feet) long fishing boat named F/V Villa de Pitanxo, which operates out of northwest Spain’s Galicia region, sank in the dark (around 0600 GMT, 1 a.m. EST), Survivors include vessel’s 53-year-old skipper and his 42-year-old nephew, according to La Voz de Galicia newspaper. The two men contacted their families by phone, A rescue center in Halifax, Nova Scotia, operated by Canada’s air force and coast guard, dispatched a helicopter, a Hercules-type aircraft and a rescue vessel to the area, which is 450 kilometers (280 miles) off the island of Newfoundland. >click to read< 14:49

RCAF marks 20th anniversary of the Cormorant

On the Oct. 11, 2021, the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CH-149 Cormorant fleet of AW101 helicopters celebrated 20 years since the aircraft’s initial delivery to Comox, British Columbia. This significant milestone compliments the fleet’s recent achievement of 100,000 flight hours. Since delivery of the CH-149 Cormorant helicopters, the Royal Canadian Air Force has been performing thousands of life saving missions throughout Canada, from the peaks of snowy windswept mountains, the east and west maritime coasts, to the high Arctic as well as internationally – providing humanitarian support. >click to read< 11:59

Job-related injuries create mounting danger for search and rescue workers

Submerged underwater more than 270 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland, Sgt. Damien Robison almost ran out of air. He was tethered to a helicopter hovering over a nearby fishing boat that was in distress. He was in the water to help save five sealers, but was hit by a 12-metre wave that drove him below the surface. Chunks of ice in the water whipped by as Robison tried to puzzle out how he and the sealers would survive. That happened on March 5, 2017, on what Robison considers a good day on the job. It was good because he, his crew and the sealers all got home safe. After that rescue, Robison said he was pretty banged up.  He’s not alone. >click to read<

Medevac- 230nm South St John’s

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Injured fisherman airlifted from boat in high seas near Tofino

An injured fisherman was airlifted off a commercial boat while it was thrashing about in high seas close to Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Monday evening. The fisherman suffered a potentially serious eye injury while working on a 20-metre commercial fishing vessel, 30 nautical miles northwest of Tofino, according to Capt. Trevor Reid, spokesman for Royal Canadian Air Force base 19 Wing Comox more@timescolonist 14:59