The air team from Saskatchewan were the winners at the first ever Western Canada Air Search and Rescue competition held in the northwest zone in Smithers.
“We had the winning team from La Ronge Saskatchewan, which surprised everyone cause they’re flat-landers. They were up there in the mountains and just did a stellar job,” says Janette Daly, the Administrator for the Provincial Emergency Program Air Division at the Smithers location. “The two BC teams from Boundary Bay, Vancouver and Kamloops came in second, respectably.”
The competition on Saturday was between 7 different rescue aircraft from Manitoba, Alberta Saskatchewan and BC. looking for emergency beacons as a part of the challenge.
“There were 7 targets on the ground, (that) would represent crashed air-craft pieces, and teams were tasked with searching the area to find them and see how many targets they could come up with.”
Not only to showcase their skills, the event is about learning off each other, says Daly.
“It does represent the way we search when we’re looking for downed aircraft.”
The event also included civilian aircraft in affiliation with the Canadian Civil air Search and Rescue Association of Canada.