Estimated reading time 1 minute, 22 seconds.
On Aug. 13, a crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CH-146 Griffon helicopter from 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron proceeded to a successful rescue by hoisting one person who was stranded on a shore of a river near Thistle Lake, Ontario.
At around 1:00 a.m. local time, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) Trenton received a call for assistance from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) from North Bay. One person, in good condition, was unreachable on the shore of the river after the boat got stranded at the bottom of rapids. Members of 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron based out of 8 Wing Trenton responded with a CH-146 Griffon Helicopter and were on scene at around 4:00 a.m.
The Griffon couldn’t land in this area because of the unsuitable terrain due to rapids. The search and rescue technicians proceeded to a high altitude rescue by hoisting the patient into the helicopter and safely transported him to West Nipissing General Hospital.
Where was the Griffon based? Seems an awful long response time….
424 Sqn is base in Trenton. At 1 AM the crew although on standby would not be sitting in the Aircraft waiting for a scramble. Most likely they were at home in bed at that hour. They would have to meet, be briefed. and prep the aircraft…all of which takes time. The distance to Thistle Lake from Trenton is approx 249.61 km / 155.1 miles line of sight. The Griffon helicopter can fly Maximum speed: 139 kn (160 mph, 257 km/h)
At Cruise speed: 118 kn (136 mph, 219 km/h) the chopper would be on site in a little over 2 hours.
I doubt the pilot would opt for max speed as this would burn more fuel and allow little fuel left for on site recover and or evacuation to the nearest hospital. Also head winds, temperature, humidity and altitude has a major bearing on aircraft performance and speed.
So all in all 3 hours rescue start to finish is pretty darn good in my book…………not an official answer but one base on my experience with 439 Squadron that also flies the Griffon.
It’s actually a good response time considering the crews would have been at home sleeping at that time of night and the 1h20 minute flight from Trenton to North Bay. Good job guys!