CAF Story | Above and beyond in the skies
Video / July 17, 2025
Transcript
With the information that we had at the time, that there was a confirmed crash, and there was one individual that needed assistance, our Hercules was on scene and the SAR techs were trying to jump in.
I’m Captain Paula Findlater, pilot at 439 Squadron in Bagotville. It was about 180 nautical miles or so to the north of Bagotville, which is quite far, and there are no other sources or airports, really, in proximity. What complicated the mission was the weight balance of the aircraft: the distance, to fuel resources and the number of people and gear that we had to bring back with us; three SAR techs and one individual that needed assistance.
As we were arriving on scene, we were able to locate them. They had helped us out by clearing some trees to have an open area for us land, which was about 500 metres from where the patient was, that they had stabilized. The distance actually helped us in the sense that we were able to come up with courses of action, prior to getting on scene, and it was kind of a train-as-you-fight situation. We do a lot of training, and missions, and false missions in order to get kind of an appreciation of the possibilities that can arrive. What we use when we go up north for missions that we required: fuel caches. So, those are used by the Quebec companies during forest fires season, predominantly. And we use them only during our missions.
I would say the beauty of the Search and Rescue is really having all those options and choosing kind of the best one. Most of the time, it’s the right answer. Each and every member of the crew came forth with an idea, a suggestion, a solution in order to make that mission successful. The stress and the constant changing variables, and pushing the aircraft to its limits… The complication of the mission was eased with the fact that we were working as a crew, and everybody came together to finally come to the solution that would get everybody home, and the patient to the care that they needed.