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Hercules aircraft lands at 108 Mile

Parachutes, booming engines draw attention across community
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Eyes were on the skies across the South Cariboo when Canadian Armed Forces Search and Rescue operations’ behemoth


Residents around the South Cariboo may have seen – and heard – the hefty Hercules military aircraft sweeping across the community on Feb. 17.

Used for Canadian Armed Forces Search and Rescue (CAFSAR) operations, this isn't the first time the huge and prestigious Hercules has touched down on the tarmac at the South Cariboo (108 Mile) Regional Airport.

CAFSAR techs are members of elite, highly-trained rescue specialist teams that provide on-scene medical aid and evacuation all over Canada, regardless of the conditions.

108 Mile airport manager Nick Christianson notes the Cariboo, Thompson-Nicola and Kootenay regions have been used for years for the training of parachute jumpers and supply drops often necessary during military rescues, and once again dropped chutes at the local airport during their visit last Friday.

While the airport has also seen landings of the big Buffalo military aircraft at the airport for training missions in the area, Christianson notes the CC130 Hercules is almost double its size, so it has a lot more capability as well as the ability to fly much longer for both searches and training.

The Hercules has such a long range due to its 54,000-litre fuel tank, the airport can't completely fill it with fuel, but always appreciates the business to top it up, he adds.

The first time Christianson saw the CC130 set down at the airport there was in 2014, and at that time he had noted when he received the initial request to host the Hercules, at 155,000-pounds with a wingspan of 133-feet (its tail reaches almost 40 feet high), he wasn't sure at first the 5,000-foot landing strip could handle the landing.

However, back then Flight Commander Major Dennis Scharf told the airport manager he'd landed there in a Hercules 15 years prior to then (1999), noting the aircraft is designed and equipped for a Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) capability to operate on as little as a 3,000-foot landing strip, so there was plenty of room to accommodate it at the 108 airport.

Christianson explains he was away when it visited again on Friday (Feb. 17), but all went smoothly with the staff in charge.

Since then, and as usual, plenty of amazed onlookers from around the community phoned the airport to ask what was going on with the loud, rumbling aircraft and huge plane in the sky overhead, he adds.

The Hercules is primarily used for search and rescue (SAR) missions, but is large enough to carry up to 78 combat troops and is equipped with tracking devices for picking up signals from downed aircraft or personal locator beacons.

Back in 2014, it was noted that the CC-130 Hercules would continue its service as one of 17 RCAF aircraft, but only in Western Canada. This was part of the CAF's commitment to refurbish these older, four-engine fixed-wing turboprop aircraft.

The Government of Canada then announced in December 2016 the awarding of a contract for $2.4 billion to Airbus Defence and Space to replace Canada's fleets of CC115 Buffalo and CC130 Hercules aircraft.

The contract means Airbus will provide 16 C295W aircraft equipped with advanced technology systems to support CAFSAR, at a new simulator-equipped training centre in Comox.

The federal release notes Canada's CC115 Buffalo and CC130 Hercules have served Canada well over the last 20 to 40 years, performing over 350 missions each year and are responsible for saving the lives of thousands of Canadians every year.

It explains that during the transition the existing fleets will continue to be maintained and operated to ensure search and rescue responsibilities.

More information is online at http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1167179.