Coast Guard & CASARA Thunder Bay Joint SAREX

On July 14th, 2007 our unit completed a successful air exercise with the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA). We put two aircraft in the air to conduct a high and low level search.

The simulated tasking was to go to Welcome Island and conduct a search for a missing boat reported overdue. When the twin engine aircraft (C-GTCG) got on scene, there was a debris field spotted in the water and 2 CCG & 2 CCGA boats (one icebreaker & one cutter) and were on scene. As the scenario went, the boat had sunk and two occupants were left afloat. (They were dummies with life jackets on) One dummy was on the Island and the other was spotted south of Welcome Island by CCGA boats. The float plane (C-GNCN) noticed some objects in the water to the west of the island that led the auxiliary boats to the missing man. The water conditions were a bit difficult so it was good practice. We hoped the float plane could land at the crash scene but the water was a bit too rough for training purposes. (In an actual we would have landed)

The sarex was a great first step for our unit and CASARA to work more closely with the CCG & CCGA for training and actual searches. The issues that came up were mostly communication. A request came from the CCGA that it would be nice if our aircraft had a marine radio on board so that we can direct boats on possible targets.

Thanks for everyone's involvement, good show!