Canadian aircraft, crews flying in Sitka skies this week

That big yellow plane circling over Sitka on Thursday morning belongs to the Royal Canadian Air Force. The Canadian airmen are in Sitka this week to engage in joint training exercises with the U.S. Coast Guard.

It would have been something to see, were it not for Thursday’s bad weather: Parachutists jumping out the back of an airplane over Eastern Channel, a huge Canadian helicopter hovering over the salt water as a Coast Guard boat bobbed underneath.

But the snow had other plans. The aircraft from Vancouver Island, along with the Coast Guard’s own MH-60T helicopter managed to get up in the air for a little while on Thursday. But as the snowflakes moved in and visibility moved out, they returned to the Air Station Sitka and put the training on hold.

“So, here’s our helicopters, and you can just see the sheer size difference between the aircraft that we’re using and their search-and-rescue helicopter,” Lt. Chris Enoksen said before takeoff, walking into the hangar at Air Station Sitka.

The Coast Guard Jayhawk is dwarfed by the Canadian Cormorant, a huge yellow chopper with three engines, a ramp coming off the back and a series of windows lining both sides. The word RESCUE is emblazoned on the side in English, and underneath it the same in French: SAUVETAGE.

What the Coast Guard might call a rescue swimmer, the Canadian Air Force calls a SAR tech, or search-and-rescue technician.

“The fact that they have SAR techs that are capable of doing a larger envelope of work, by doing paradrops and working in two-man teams, there’s a lot to be gained. And they have a lot to gain from our swimmers who work pretty much independently,” he said.

And because of Alaska’s proximity to Canada, Enoksen says there’s a high probability of the two organizations working together at some point in time.

“It’s great to have that camaraderie,” he said. “We know their techniques and their capabilities, and they know our techniques and our capabilities.”

Outside the hangar, the Buffalo plane – also yellow, also emblazoned with the maple leaf and the word “rescue” in two languages – is waiting to go. It also has a back ramp which is hanging open. Inside you can see all kinds of rescue gear, including snow shoes.

“A big portion of their search-and-rescue is inland,” Enoksen said. “So these guys will jump out and be in the middle of Canada, up in the mountains. They do a lot of rescues of plane crashes and lost hikers. They leave the aircraft with an enormous amount of equipment.”

Capt. Dave Stubbs is navigator of the Canadian CC-115 Buffalo. He says the chance to train with military from another country happens regularly, but not often.

“It’s probably limited to about twice a year where we can go out and do some combined training,” Stubbs said. “There’s lots of different people who do the same job, so we share that experience around. This time it got to be my turn to come up and do this. Next time, it’s going to be another person who gets to come and do it.”

Stubbs says doing this training now could make a big difference later.

“In real operations at some point we’re going to have to work together in the dark of night and stormy seas,” he said. “We’re going to have to work together. So getting these training opportunities to come together and work now in a training environment will just open lines of communication and get those missions done down the road.”

Out on the ramp, the U.S. Jayhawk lifts off first. It circles around and hovers near the end of the runway so a film crew from The Weather Channel can capture the takeoff of the Buffalo. The Jayhawk follows it down the runway, then circles around again to do the same for the Canadian chopper.

The aircraft spent a little time in the air. Thursday’s training exercises didn’t entirely work out, but there’s always next time and for now, at least a glimpse of how rescues happen on the other side of the border.