November 3rd, 2007 SIMSAR

On November 3rd, NOASARA completed 3 air exercises and 1 ground exercise. The first two air exercises were completed in a Piper Cherokee. On the first flight the crew completed a Creeping Line Ahead (CLA) search pattern at 1000ft and 1nm scanning range. On the second flight the crew completed a shoreline search at 500ft and 1/2nm scanning range.

The third flight was completed in a Piper Seneca II. The crew completed an ELT homing exercise at night. The target simulated several signaling techniques to the air team. The most effective was a new signaling laser provided by CASARA Ontario. Other signaling techniques included flares and 3 fires. In conjunction with the night exercise, a ground team was organized and completed a ground ELT homing exercise. Both the air team and ground team were able to work closely together using VHF radios. The target simulated a mid air collision and deployed two ELTs. Even with the difficulty of this exercise, CASARA crews found the target in good time.

Day Crews:

First Flight Piper Cherokee C-GQMD

Pilot: Jason Hughes, Navigator: Jim Geils, Spotters: Stephen Fleming & Will Pomber

Second Flight Piper Cherokee C-GQMD

Pilot: Jason Hughes, Navigator: John Celmer, Spotters: Luigi Sala & Jim Geils

Night Crews:

Piper Seneca II C-GTCG

Pilot: Dave Sutton Nav: Jason Hughes, Spotters: Chris Chadwick & David Binch

Ground ELT Team

Jim Geils & Andrew Smith

Target

Ernest Arpin

Pictures:

Bringing out the real guns