YLW Connection - Fall 2009 - (Page 12)

Buffalo aircraft, the primary Search and Rescue aircraft of the Air Force. Eyes in the sky | B Y K E N HRUCHAK T he Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) is there on call with its dedicated volunteers 24 hours a day. Under the Search and Rescue, Kelowna airport is home to the Kelowna area Air Division. With over 50 volunteers putting in over 1,500 hours per year, they respond to all types of situations. Kelowna is only a small part of the PEP/AIR family which includes over 900 members and over 100 privately owned aircraft. An affiliate of CASARA, Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, a Canada wide volunteer system, the mandate of PEP/AIR is to provide qualified and certified crews for searches for missing and overdue aircraft. All crews go through training from Pilots, Navigators to Spotters. Spotters are trained in volunteer aircraft, and then are able to certify for Military Search and Rescue operations by taking a certification flight in a military aircraft such as the Buffalo, Cormorant or Hercules. In British Columbia, the Provincial Emergency Program oversees the operations of the PEP/AIR crews and they are responsible for more than just assisting the military. Working with the ground Search and Rescue teams, PEP/AIR provides eyes in the sky to look for missing persons such as snowmobilers, lost hikers and recently, worked on the ground with the local ground search and rescue teams during the West Kelowna and Rose Valley fires doing evacuation notices. In 2005, the local crews were called into action to look for an overdue aircraft flying from Calgary to Vancouver. Based out of Kelowna, the crews flew search patterns in predetermined areas from Castlegar to Hope. After a couple of weeks of tireless searching, some crews doing 10 hour days, the search ended when the wreckage was found east of Cranbrook. A couple of days later, crews were called into action again. This time traveling to Kamloops to assist with a search for a missing aircraft from Vavenby that was enroute to Chilliwack. In the late summer, this meant long days as they used as much light as possible, so members spent up to 5 hours at a time on some aircraft searching Volunteer Spotter looking for the target out of a CAF C-130 Hercules YLW CONNECTION

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of YLW Connection - Fall 2009

YLW Connection - Fall 2009
Contents
Airport Services
Drive 1.6 Million Passengers Development Program
Mexico Travel
Vernon Yours to Explore
Eyes in the Sky
Big Business at YLW
Travel Medical Insurance - Not Just for Out of Country But for Out of Province, Too
Caribbean Goes North Event
Taxing Your Air Time
Okanagan Art Goes Global
YLW Connection Wins International Award
YLW News
Trivia & Games

YLW Connection - Fall 2009

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