THUNDER BAY — Members of a local group that's on constant standby to look for missing aircraft, boaters or other people in distress have completed an important training session.
Four members of the Northwestern Ontario Air Search and Rescue Association (NOASARA) participated in simulated searches evaluated by the Royal Canadian Air Force earlier this month.
They included one pilot, one navigator and two spotters.
The training exercise was hosted by Temiskaming Air Search and Rescue, and included aircraft teams from Thunder Bay, Temiskaming, and Sudbury, as well as ground-search teams from Temiskaming, Sudbury and North Bay.
The Thunder Bay air team partnered with the North Bay ground team on three search scenarios.
Each required the air team to utilize a different search pattern while coordinating its activities with the ground team.
Once a target was located, the air team provided overhead coverage while directing the ground team to the identified location for target confirmation.
NOASARA conducts its own exercises monthly in the Thunder Bay area, and takes part in a provincial exercise about once a year.
Spokesperson Ken Widdifield said the local training is important for maintaining skill sets and is a requirement of the RCAF.
"But also, when we get together with other volunteer groups from the province, it gives us an opportunity to hone our skills with them and to develop close operability with them. So common activities, common use of nomenclature and so on. Essentially the organizations work as one."
The 25-member local group includes aircraft owners, pilots, navigators, spotters, ground-homing specialists and support teams.
While they are always available to contribute to major searches, Widdifield said many of the callouts they receive from the RCAF and Canadian Coast Guard's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre involve less serious situations.
"For example, an emergency locator transmitter will go off accidentally in an aircraft. We've found them sitting in the seats of trucks and in boats that have gone off accidentally. It's quite an expense to deploy a major search team with a Hercules aircraft. So often, if it's close to the city, we will get a callout to go do a search, particularly at night."
NOASARA was recognized earlier this year with an award from the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association for its support and participation in the search for an overdue aircraft.
Tragically, two men were found to have died when their plane went down on a flight from Nakina to Eabametoong in early March.
During the search, which lasted several days, the local group offered its premises at Thunder Bay Airport as the base for the RCAF advance task force and for aircraft dispatched from southern Ontario and Winnipeg.
In addition to supplying space and amenities for the complex operation, NOASARA members provided various supports at the hangar and spotters on fixed-wing and helicopter search aircraft.
Jim Geils of NOASARA was also recognized for serving as the assistant search master and coordinating the efforts of the local volunteers during the operation.
Widdifield said the not-for-profit corporation expects to announce a recruiting initiative in the near future as it looks to fill some gaps in the organization.