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The Pilot Project Podcast is an aviation podcast that aims to help new pilots learn what it takes to succeed in the world of flight, to help people in the flight training system learn what they may want to fly, and to give Canadians and the world a peek into life on the flight deck in the RCAF. We want to help pilots succeed and thrive! We interview real RCAF pilots for their exciting stories as well as the lessons they've learned along the way. We'll learn their tips to develop resilience and the tools it takes to make it in flight training.
Alright. We're ready for departure here at the pilot project podcast, the best source for stories and advice from the pilots of the RCAF. I'm your host, Brian Morrison. With me today is search and rescue pilot Paula Findlayter. Paula, welcome to the show, and thanks so much for being here.
Paula:Thanks for having me.
Bryan:Before we start, let's go over Paula's bio. Captain Paula Finlater joined the Canadian Armed Forces in July of 2010 immediately after graduating from high school. She attended the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario starting in August of that same summer and graduated a semester early from RMC in December of 2013. In January 2014, she attended 3 Canadian Forces Flight Training School in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba and received her helicopter wings in the summer of 2016. At graduation, she received the City of Portage trophy in recognition of her officer like qualities and her involvement in the community during her training at the school.
Bryan:She was posted to Bagotville, Quebec with 4 39 combat support squadron and completed her aircraft commander qualification in October 2018. Despite taking a pause for a year to start a family from August 2021 to 2022, since being posted to 4 39, Paula has accumulated over 1,000 flight hours in the CH 146 6 Griffon, flown 14 star missions, and been awarded 2 trophies for 2 of these missions. Those trophies were the Magnarski Trophy in 2021 and the Cormoran Trophy for the year 2022. Today, we will be focusing on the mission that earned her crew, the Cormoran Trophy for 2022. So it's interesting to note that both you and your brother are Canadian Armed Forces pilots.
Bryan:Listeners will remember the interview on the Twin Otter with Ryan Finlator. So it's pretty cool that you guys both ended up as pilots in the air force. But where did that start for you?
Paula:Yeah. So I definitely give some of that credit for aviation to my brother. The joke in our family a bit is that my brother, he had his pilot's license prior to actually be able to drive himself to the airport to fly aircraft. So it's a bit of a running joke in the family. So I think aviation started for me a little bit with seeing my brother go to the airport and fly.
Paula:I was able to go few trips with my brother as well. I wasn't sure initially that that pilot would be something or aviation initially that would be for me. I actually joined initially as a Mars officer. Okay. And I wasn't in cadets.
Paula:I know a lot of the people, on the podcast are are set off in cadets.
Bryan:That's right.
Paula:Pilot wasn't open for me Okay. When I joined in 2010. The option that I had were a couple army trades and, listeners can't see but obviously, my shape isn't really that of, of an army infantry officer. I I think was one of them, and the other was Mars officer.
Bryan:You'd be a very petite army officer. Yeah.
Paula:And I do like to camp, but not in in that
Bryan:Not in that way?
Paula:Not in that way. Yeah. So so I chose Mars officer, which is kind of like a pilot of the boat Yeah. Essentially in summary. So and then when pilot opened up, I went off to to try that.
Paula:I had heard kind of a few things about the Mars officer trade and the environment that wasn't really grasping my attention. So I thought, well, maybe this trade isn't for me. And I still kind of had my brother in the back of my mind there throughout with the with the aviation in the background. So I I think I would give most of where did it start for me from my brother, having my dad drive him to the airport and and go flying in those few trips that I, had. Also, London Airshow Yeah.
Paula:Huge. Huge. So when I was really young, we lived very close to the London airport. So I don't have really those memories because I was really only a baby, but definitely London air show, just the airport there with the aircraft flying in and out too in the background, I think.
Bryan:Yeah. That's like I've said this before on the show, but the London air show is, is one of my favorite core memories as a child is going to that air show. It's such a great air show. So
Paula:I actually went went back to the London air show in my in my school there, and I think that's really what kicked it home when when I was a first officer with Beggaville. We were able to go to the air show.
Bryan:Oh, like to be part of the air show?
Paula:Be part of the air show.
Bryan:That's awesome.
Paula:So that was really kind of
Bryan:Kind of brings it full circle.
Paula:Homecoming bringing full circle. And I think that was one of my moments Mhmm. And really, my career starting out that it was really for me.
Bryan:That's awesome. Yeah. How did you find your flight training experience in the forces?
Paula:Very challenging.
Bryan:Yeah?
Paula:I would say. Yeah. I'm a really visual learner. So for me, I was drawing diagrams, chair flying, and then that's a very common as well.
Bryan:Lots of visualization?
Paula:Lots of visualization. In my opinion, I don't have the best memory either, so all the checklists items, all the emergencies, something that I'd had troubles with was IFAR flying, so instrument flight rules. Just visualizing where I was in in the sky and point to point, all those types of things. It was quite difficult for me. So I know a lot of the other pilots on the podcast as well saying those bumps in the road, failing tests, or failing trips.
Paula:I've gone through that as well. Mhmm. It's definitely not a a straight path by any means, that I had. But, again, team game. I had a lot of great coursemates to help me out.
Paula:Again, learning from each other, coming down, talking about what went wrong, what went well. Support, family, friends. My brother, obviously being an aviation instructor here, he was able to to help as well. So
Bryan:Was he instructing when you came through here?
Paula:He was. Not initially, but at the end of my training, he was, an instructor here. So he was actually physically here, which helped.
Bryan:That'd be nice.
Paula:Yeah. So the training itself, I found very difficult, very rewarding at the same time.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:And I think the big kinda game for me too was a bit like the mental game as well, like being away from family, friends, all that kind of stuff. So the training and the learning curve is very steep, but also that kind of that mental game that family, friends support from far is very is very difficult.
Bryan:Yeah. For sure.
Paula:That was a big struggle as well to to try and balance that, and I I found relief, stress relief as I was we spoke about a bit in the bio about being involved in the community. Mhmm. So that really helped me. I did volleyball, basketball, and I coached ring it.
Bryan:Oh, cool.
Paula:So that was a a big portion of my time. I loved it. I loved it.
Bryan:It's really big here.
Paula:Yeah. I loved it and I miss it too. So the flight training experience, it was difficult, but definitely very rewarding and it really made me, develop huge, as a person.
Bryan:Mhmm. I think you hit the nail on the head that there's so much to flight training that's difficult. It's the day to day flying, but it's also all the studying and memorization, and it's the mental game is huge. Like, honestly, I think way bigger than the practical skills is developing the skills of mental toughness and to be able to go to sleep the night before a test or whatever. Like, that sounds simple, but it can be very difficult.
Bryan:So it's important to find what works for you. Like for you, the volunteering and stuff, it's so key in your training.
Paula:Yeah. Definitely. Like the mental resilience, the mental toughness, and exactly that ability to make sure you're getting that rest and, you know, shutting your brain off when you you need to shut your brain off in order to, perform. So
Bryan:Yeah. So once you made it through your flight training, you got selected for search and rescue. Was that the goal for you?
Paula:Yeah. For me, it was something that really interested me. I wanted to be able to help people and SAR is obviously search and rescue going out there at an individual or group of people's worst day
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:And be able to provide that assistance and support to get them out of that. We're all human. Accidents happen and SAR was something that I thought, wow, that would be really amazing. Somebody's having a bad day, and you're there to help them out. So I thought that would be so rewarding.
Paula:I know, like, on the other side, tactical flying, they do assist and, and also kind of like a secondary role at medevac and other things like that. But something like deploying overseas, in a war zone wasn't something that interested me. So SAR was definitely my my number one throughout the training.
Bryan:Okay. We've done an episode on rotary star, but that was focused on the Cormorant. How does flying the Griffon differ from that?
Paula:Yeah. So I've never flown the Cormorant myself.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:I've just been on the the Griffon right from my only posting right from 2016 out to Baggett, and I've been there ever since. So the difference between the quorum and Griffin and and Paul and the the coreman explained this, the SAR concept and the SAR system very well. So if we're looking at the range specifically, for the difference, we're about half and maybe even a little bit under the range of the Quorum. Okay.
Bryan:So you
Paula:got the Herc, you got the Quorum, and then you have the Griffon. So it's got an autopilot. So similar to the Cormoran, but that we are not able to hover or hold altitude and hover as per the cormorant. So as the the griffin is a little bit more limity, limited?
Bryan:Limited.
Paula:Limited. Yeah. I'll lose my English. It's more limited in its ability to hover in place. It's not an something that the Gryphon has automated, where our hands and feet however works.
Paula:So I would say that would be one of the biggest differences for if we're talking about the aircraft itself. The quorum is larger. So with the Griffon, the way that we have SAR configured, the configuration is very limited for a space in the back. Mhmm. Especially when we have a patient, there's basically I would give it maybe 4 inches, maybe up to 6 max for the med tech to be working in the back.
Paula:Wow. And the FE with the stokes laying down, a stokes litter, so that's where the patient would be like a stretcher civilian side. They have another limited by about a foot.
Bryan:Right. And the FE is your flight engineer.
Paula:Flight engineer. Yep. The capacity inside as well for working space is very limited as well. So that's another difference between the Quorum and the Griffon, mostly just by size.
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:So So I would say, as we're gonna get into talking about it later, the Griffon is still a great platform to do what we do, but we do push it to the limits.
Bryan:Yeah. And you have to find kind of how to work within those limits, basically.
Paula:Yeah, exactly. So that's the machine that we have and we, we have to figure out how we're going to complete the mission with the Griffin and its limitations.
Bryan:Yeah. I mean, obviously you folks are doing a great job with that, and you've won 2 awards for rescue. So you're doing something right. We're gonna switch gears and start talking about the mission that led to the Cormorant trophy. Can you set the stage a little and explain the events that led to the SARS mission?
Paula:Yeah. So the mission itself was on the 12th October of 2022. It was a Wednesday. It was a day that our crew, we had been scheduled for nights. So, normally, a typical day for us, if we're working days, we would come in at 8 o'clock.
Paula:There would be the med brief where we would get the weather and all of the information for the day. This particular day while we were on nights, so we were reporting to the squadron for 10 o'clock. So we came in typical working day for nights, a little bit later, working with the the sunset and came in at 10 o'clock. And then, shortly after that, we got the call.
Bryan:That was 10 AM. Right?
Paula:10 AM.
Bryan:Yeah.
Paula:Yes. 10 AM. So normally what happens, we get a call at first staff trek. We have, the crew and the aircraft to carry out the mission, And we did. We had a full, full, I'll say fresh crew.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:We all saved ourselves 2 hours of crew day Yep. For the mission. And the mission was a confirmed crash of an aircraft about a 180 nautical miles north of the airport, so in Northern Quebec, to Seoul's onboard. And there was a Herc that was tasked, but the Sartex were unable to jump because of the weather at that time. So
Bryan:That's the brief you guys received?
Paula:That's basically the brief that we got from, DRCC, the Joint Rescue Coordination Center.
Bryan:What posture were you guys on? Like, in what amount of time were they trying to get you airborne?
Paula:So our normal SAR posture is 12 hours.
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:But because we are at work, we're there ready to get in the air within 1 hour for the f eighteens.
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:So our posture technically for SAR call outs is 12 hours. But obviously, in a working day, Monday to Friday, we're there. And typically with the calls, we we are up in the air within an hour.
Bryan:So how does that go? You are the AC. Right? The aircraft commander. So do you go get the brief while the first officer and the flight engineer prepare the aircraft kind of thing, or how does that go?
Paula:So normally, we like to all gather in the ops room, the operations room, and I'll put, DRCC on speaker phone. Right.
Bryan:And that's Joint Rescue Coordination Center.
Paula:Yes. Exactly. And that gives the whole crew the opportunity to hear the information at one time. And this also saves us time for me to brief the crew on the situation and and what's happening. So that is the ideal way of receiving the information from JRCC.
Paula:It doesn't always happen that way. Sometimes we're at home. Sometimes we can find the crew right away, but everybody comes to the operations room. Once we get a call on our PA, we'll say standby crew to ops for tasking, and everybody knows that. So that's a bit of our SOP standard operating procedure that everybody meets in a central space and operations room to get that information.
Paula:Okay. Yeah. And then at that point, once the information is gathered, then we'll do our brief together. And at that point, I'll task specifically, okay. Effie, we need this amount of fuel in the aircraft, medtech.
Paula:This is the required kit that we'll need. Is there anything that we need extra? They can grab snacks and water as well for the crew. First officer, can you file the flight plan? So all that kind of taskings will will follow-up from there.
Paula:Okay. And this ensures that everybody is on the the same page.
Bryan:Okay. So I asked quickly about what sort of a posture you were holding. How long typically then do you have to plan the mission? I know this must be a pretty quick process because you guys are trying to launch as soon as possible. Can you tell us how long you had to plan and what was the basic plan you came up with initially?
Paula:Yeah. So for this mission being the distance to the on scene, so a 180 nautical miles north of the the airport, Most of our mission planning, specifically, okay, this is this scenario, okay, this is what we're gonna do, actually occurred when we were in the aircraft. Okay. So with the initial information we had at that point, we're checking whether NOTAMs if there would be any restrictions to our flight.
Bryan:NOTAMs stands for notice to airmen. They contain warnings and other important pieces of information for aircrew and should always be checked prior to taking a flight.
Paula:And then all the rest of the planning at that point would be done in the aircraft.
Bryan:Okay. Is that basically just to save time so that you can do it on route while you're already heading towards the scene?
Paula:Yeah. It'll save time. And I would say the majority of our missions, we are able to do that kind of scenario planning in the aircraft to save time. If the on scene is going to be in a short distance, well, at that point, we would take the extra time to do it on the ground because in the end of the it would be shorter.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:We won't be rushing any of the steps that we take prior to getting to the on scene. So for this particular mission, it was approximately 45 minutes from memory. Maybe even just on the hour that we were in the air after we got the official tasking and and, did the initial briefing. There was some some back and forth with, JRCC coming through with some updates and information as well. Another item that we had to make sure that we had on the aircraft for the mission planning specifically before taking off was our pump, our fuel pump, in order to be able to barrel refuel.
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:So I talked about giving out tasks a bit earlier. This was one very important task that we need to ensure that was, on the aircraft because it's something that we don't carry all the time.
Bryan:Right. And when you say barrel refuel, you mean, basically, instead of normal, you'd have a fuel truck that just comes and pumps gas. In this case, you need like a a hand pump to you landed a fuel cache, there's fuel barrels there, and you actually just pump by hand the fuel into the Gryphon.
Paula:Yeah. Exactly. Like you said, works off, a generator that we also need to ensure that we have. So the pump and the generator to ensure that it's functional.
Bryan:Okay. Yep. So when you get a mission like this, I imagine sometimes your adrenaline can spike, especially probably when you're new to SAR. How do you prepare mentally for a mission, and what's the feeling like going into it?
Paula:Yeah. So preparing mentally for the mission, I really have to go back on the training. So training as we fight. So everyday, daily missions, we're going out. I wanna say every flight we'd be making up a false scenario.
Paula:Example, ejection of an f 18 pilot, missing hikers, injured snowmobilers, they had a snowmobile accident. It's not every mish every day that we'll be planning, false SAR mission to work off. But definitely, those mission, those training flights that we do is what prepares us
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:Mentally for the real thing. So I think training as you fight kind of that model, I guess, per se, is really what helps to prepare mentally for for missions.
Bryan:Yeah. That's huge. We talked about this a little bit earlier, but can you tell us about any constraints that Griffin has that made for a challenging day that day?
Paula:Yeah. So one of the challenging things, especially for us where we are in Bagelville, Quebec, is everything north of the airport. There is very limited installations, actually, airports Mhmm. That we can use to refuel and provide services, fueling and and other, support. So that was one of the constraints for the Griffin and is the range, the fuel range.
Paula:We were not going to be able to go to the on scene and return to the hospital and to the airport without requiring refueling. And so we have a number of barrel refueling areas up in the north that we use under the, sub fur. So it's the Quebec company that they use the barrels for fighting the forest fires. Yeah. So they have a bunch of locations where these barrels are located, and we use those when required for for real mission purposes only.
Paula:So our initial plan was to refuel at one of the sites, the barrel refueling sites in in our TB in our initial plan. We'll talk about it a little bit later, but plan change. We didn't go to that specific one, but yeah. So the ranges on the Griffin was one of the constraints specifically for this mission and also the the weight and balance of the aircraft. So when we took off in, Bagotville, the Griffin is £11,900 max, so we can't go over, including the the SAR config, the people on board, the fuel.
Paula:So £11,900 is the max weight for the Griffin. Mhmm.
Bryan:So
Paula:I took off in Beggaville, £11,900 with the fuel. And that was a constraint for the mission, really the weight and balance of the aircraft and the range. Okay. Which conflicted it as well as performance a bit as well, which you can get into a bit later, but takeoff limitations and stuff with that heavy weight that we were working with in order to, get where we needed to go with the amount of fuel that we had and the people on board and everything.
Bryan:Okay. So SAR is a team sport. Who else was out helping with the search?
Paula:Yeah. So definitely a team sport for sure. Initially, there was the 4 to 4 HERC aircraft on scene as the top cover, and Paul had spoken about their role, as well as JRCC that was speaking to us with our satellite phone that we have in the aircraft and as well as the SARTACs. So we'll talk about it. Again, kind of the events, but they ended up actually being able to jump.
Paula:So the startex from 424, Bruno Robitaille, if I can name them by name, Bruno Robitaille, Dominic Golar, and Joe Stalterri. They were the 3, Sartaqs that had been on the mission with us that day.
Bryan:Okay. So we've already talked about your preparation stage of the mission. Can you tell us about getting to the crash site and what the situation was when you arrived?
Paula:Yep. So we took off roughly around noon. Like I said before, we had that a 180 nautical mile approximately, transit. Beggaville weather that day was caboque, so blue sky, light winds, something local weather phenomena sometimes we can expect in the north, whether that's not what is forecast in Bagaville. So because of Sartex initially, we were told they weren't able to jump.
Paula:We were kind of expecting a little bit of adverse weather, maybe lower clouds in the vicinity of the on scene. So that's what we were working with as we were transiting to the area, working through multiple, COAs. So course of action with my, micros, the first officer, Kevin D'Ardell. The, med tech that we had on board was Maximo and Chinal, and the FE that we had with us was Eric and Janina. So we were all, working together throughout the transit, talking with, JRCC if they had any, updates for us as we were going along.
Paula:Just before we had lost comms with GRCC, our sat phone ended up not working. We were able to, get information that this hard text did jump.
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:So that was a situation when we arrived. It was approximately 30 minutes before we were arriving on scene that we had lost comms with the JRCCR. They they were 2 on 5 for for comms. And we we noted that the they told us the start techs were successfully able to jump. And for the start techs, they popped a smoke for us when we were arriving on scene.
Paula:So we were able to quickly identify the location. We had a Latin along, so we had already a very specific location, but that is assisted us 5 miles back
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:From the area to quickly pinpoint where they were. We were able to use comms on the ground with the the Sartex. Initially, we needed to transfer information from the HERC down to the SARTX. Talk about a little bit later with the kind of issues with comms, etcetera. And that they had secured or created a bit of a larger landing area for us, so a confined area, about 500 meters from where the patient was in in a cabin, and, that we could we could land there.
Paula:And then we would discuss the plan following that with the, the Startek team lead
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:On scene and determine the best course of action from there for the patient and the patient situation.
Bryan:So I noticed you said the patient, and earlier we had said 2 souls on board. So does that mean there was only 1? Or
Paula:Yeah. So we'll talk about comms a bit later again, but there was only actually one person that needed assistance. So one person instead of instead of the initial 2.
Bryan:So can I ask what was the patient's status when you guys arrived?
Paula:Yeah. So the 3 Sartex on scene were able to stabilize the patient. So the patient was stable.
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:Yeah.
Bryan:Once you realized that things were different from what you had expected, what plans did you come up with?
Paula:Yeah. So like I said, when we were planning even on route, we had multiple courses of action that we were talking about amongst the crew. Okay. If this happens, okay, we'll do this. Once we were on scene, realized that there was 3 SARTECs that jumped, that there was only one patient.
Paula:So we took the best of all the COAs, I would say, that we had from when we were planning on route in consultation with the SHARTAC on the ground and the condition of the patient.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:So what we adapted, the SAARTEC on the ground with the patient and the distance from our air the aircraft in the confined area to where the patient, was stable was about 500 meters in snow, about knee height or even a bit higher in in some places. So it was determined that a hoisting sequence with the patient in the stokes was going to be the best course of action.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:And again, Griffin limitations fuel. We had to manage that limitation with the Griffin and the confined area where we were in to successfully carry out the plan. So the plan was to take off from the confined area, carry out the hoist with the patient, and return to that confined area, and then have the Sartex come aboard and depart from the confined area. There was a few burn considerations. So before we did conduct the hoist, we had to burn enough fuel in order to be able to conduct the hoist, safely return, and then depart once again with the Sartex onboard with just enough fuel to make it to the refueling point.
Bryan:So you guys were too heavy to hover when you arrived?
Paula:We were too heavy to hover to carry out the hoist, but we were too heavy to carry out the secondary departure from the confined area following.
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:So we had to burn approximately £300, if my memory serves me correctly, in order to depart the confined area successfully, £11,900, and make it to our fueling point safely.
Bryan:Pilots usually express their fuel in terms of pounds, at least in Canada. For the non pilot types out there, 1 liter of jet a one weighs about £1.77. So in this case, burning down 300 pounds means burning about a 170 liters of fuel. And you had to hit multiple points, right, on the way back?
Paula:We did.
Bryan:Yeah.
Paula:We did have to hit multiple, refueling points on the way back to get back to base. Yeah.
Bryan:So that must have been a little bit stressful to arrive and realize you're gonna have 2 more people on board than you had planned for. Because you planned to pick up 2 survivors. There was only 1, but then there was 3 SARTACs. So you're bringing 4 people on board. That must have been a bit of a surprise.
Paula:Yeah. It was it was a bit of a surprise with the number of SAR techs that had jumped and the the change in the number of patients. I will say that it is often the case with SAR missions. And if I can use when everybody was younger and did the telephone, that game where the message isn't quite what it is at the at the end. It's kind of that for some I don't wanna say the majority, but it often does happen that the information isn't exact.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:So, yes, it was a surprise, but again, kinda training has to fall back on with those little injects from the instructor turning off, sir, with, oh, and then this happens. What are you gonna do? So it was definitely a shock, but it wasn't something that we hadn't seen before as a crew.
Bryan:I think also, you're talking about the telephone game. It's important to remember, like you've mentioned, there's so many different agencies and players involved in a rescue mission. So it's not as if you guys get radioed by the person who crashed, and now you have the information straight from the horse's mouth. That's getting reported probably to ATC through a Mayday call. ATC is maybe contacting GRCC.
Bryan:Then they're gonna go through the different chains to get it to you guys. Right? So there's a lot of people passing information from person to person, like you said, in a high stress environment.
Paula:Yeah. Exactly. And the other piece of that is the information we're trying to get as quickly out as possible to the individuals that need to have that information.
Bryan:So once you came up with your plan, you departed the area in the confined area. Can you walk us through the journey from the crash site back to base?
Paula:So once we started to execute the plan with the hoist and the patient and getting the Sartex back on board as well, we had to leave the confined area that we're in. So we needed to make sure that we were light enough to depart the confined area, but not too light in the sense of fuel that we couldn't make it to the closest refueling point from our location, which was about 30 minutes from where the patient was. And it was actually a bit I wouldn't say it wasn't in the right direction, but it was almost perpendicular to where the crash site was. So we weren't necessarily getting any closer to the hospital for the patient, but it was the only one that we could use to execute the best plan Mhmm. Which we always had was getting everybody back home to base at one time.
Paula:So we successfully were able to depart the area with roughly £600 of fuel in order to make the transit and land to the refueling pump, which was another confined area and another course of action that we had worked through to manage so that we could depart that confined area once again with enough fuel to make it to our second refueling point in order to make it to the hospital. So the first refueling point was a pump. So we didn't have to use our manual pump.
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:There was a fuel tank with a pump with a company that was there, but it was a confined area. At that point, they also had Wi Fi there. So I was able to contact DRCC and give them an update of our situation.
Bryan:Oh, because your sat phone was still down.
Paula:Yeah. The sat phone was still not working for us at that point. So we were not able to contact JRCC until we got to the refueling and use the Wi Fi in order to call them
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:And give them an update. So I will say with the sat phone, it was in and out. So I would say it was, not that it wasn't functioning completely, but it was unreliable at that time for us. And Darcey was still able to track us for the most part using it. It's just we were unsuccessful with being able to call them.
Bryan:Okay.
Paula:So we departed from that first refueling area and got to our second refueling area. There was actually 2 refueling points that we had chosen to say, if we have extra fuel, we'll go to the next refueling point, which was actually the second refueling point on our path was going to be the better option Mhmm. Of the 2. It was closer to the hospital, and it actually had a runway
Bryan:Oh, nice.
Paula:Which is really what we needed in order to not require another refueling, which again adds on to the patient's time getting to the hospital and the care that they need.
Bryan:Why does the runway help you not need to use more fuel?
Paula:So having the runway meant that we didn't need to refuel because we could have the aircraft up to that £11,900 with the the max fuel that we needed to depart to make it to the hospital.
Bryan:And you would not be able to do that in a confined area?
Paula:Yes. That's right.
Bryan:Alright. That makes sense.
Paula:So the second refueling point, like I said, we had the runway. When we got to the location, we noticed that the barrels themselves were in a confined area.
Bryan:Oh.
Paula:So we did land where the barrels were, and at that point, I believe we were just over £200 on landing. And for visual flight rules, so VFR, we need £200 for planning on landing. And at that point, when we landed in front of the barrels, that's when I realized that it was a confined area, and we weren't gonna be able to refuel there because we would not be able to depart
Bryan:Okay. Well
Paula:at the weight with the fuel that we needed to get back to the hospital. So at that point, we quickly looked around and noticed that just over the trees, there was another area with a taxiway to the runway. So we took off, landed in the other area, and we had to roll the barrels through the snow in the forest to where we were now landed in order to refuel from the barrels. That was the only means of getting fuel at this location. So again, unfortunately, that situation added more time rolling the barrels.
Paula:And I really thank that we had the 3 Sartecs with us on board assisting us with the barrels, rolling the barrels. Again, going back to my size, barrels are pretty heavy, so it's definitely not something that could be done alone.
Bryan:Yeah, for sure.
Paula:And then back to SAR and team, every single part of this mission was teamwork Mhmm. And in its finest, I think. So that was our second stop for fuel. We were successfully able to refuel from the barrels and depart using the runway. After we took off from the second point of refueling to the hospital, it was nighttime.
Paula:Okay. So when we had landed, we had set up the NVGs, so the night vision goggles, in order to fly safely at night to the hospital. So Shikunmi Hospital was our destination for the patient. We arrived there around 9 o'clock. From the second refueling with the barrels back to the hospital, it was pretty quiet.
Paula:I'll say the patient was still sable, managed by the start techs and our med tech in the back. So we managed our approach into the hospital. And from there, there's a patient transfer carried out. And then from there, where our RTB are returned to base, Baggettville, which is just about a 2 minute flight up. It's very it's very close to the hospital.
Bryan:So that's good. So if you have fuel to get to the hospital, you have fuel to get home.
Paula:Yes. Basically. So we're we're safe with, with respect to that. They normally don't like us shutting down at the hospital for the patient transfer just because if there's another helicopter coming in. Yeah.
Paula:This time we, we did. There was a little bit more time that needed to happen on the ground and just so conserve fuel as well. Mhmm. From the second refueling point to back to base, it was relatively uneventful. The one thing that was another little bit of an added stressor was there was some weather moving in.
Paula:So we were trying to beat that system coming in. I think it came through an hour or so, maybe 2 after we landed. So we did have some time, but that was something that was in the back of my head in the planning and the time that it was taking us to refuel and everything in order to make sure that we didn't get caught a long day with the patient, with the weather on NVGs. So it was an added stressor, but it was something that was we still had some extra time.
Bryan:Mhmm. So you took off around noon, we'll say. Around what time did you land?
Paula:So it took off about noon. It was approximately total 10 and a half hour day for us.
Bryan:That's a long day. Yeah. Especially in a helicopter.
Paula:Yeah. It was a really long day for us. Yeah.
Bryan:So to me, this sounds like an extremely stressful day, especially that moment when you arrive to refuel at your second point, and then the fuel is in a confined area. And now, okay, holy cow. Like, our plan is not gonna work. So how do you keep your focus and composure as things become more complex?
Paula:Yeah. So I think, again, this comes back to training. So we do do a lot of training and flying daily that prepares us for the mission. Obviously, when it's real and there's somebody's life that is dependent on you getting them back to the hospital safely, that adds a an added stress. I think keeping the focus is really on the mission and working as a team is something that hugely reduces stress.
Paula:Mhmm. We definitely cannot think of every single scenario, every single solution to the changing situations that come up with the emissions. And working as a team, I think is huge in these cases where you're able to brainstorm Mhmm. Ideas off of each other and okay. We have this plan.
Paula:Okay. But we can do this maybe. Oh, yeah. That's true. So like I said, we can't think of every kind of situation or every kind of solution.
Paula:And when everything is changing and becomes more complex, it's really nice to be able to have those crew that we're working with in order to find those solutions together, in order to complete the mission, and something as well that helps with the stress and when things are complex as we work with a lot of checklists and gen book that has general knowledge. So it's a book that we use, and we fall back on to make sure that we aren't missing anything, thing, that we followed other steps. And that's something as well that reduces our, our stress as well. We have this checklist and this will ensure that nothing gets missed
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:When we're in a stressful environment and things change. We have those checklists for a purpose, and we use them to fall back on. So with that team environment comes the communication, using those checklists that we have and making sure that that communication is clear and concise and everybody's on the same page. Is it that's why we have those checklists too Mhmm. To make sure that the information that is provided to everybody is clear and concise, and it makes sense.
Paula:And that way, there's no doubts or confusion in what is going be the plan. Like I said, making sure that everybody is on the same page and we're all working towards the same goal
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:And the mission to get the injured home safely.
Bryan:Yeah. It's funny. It comes down to good use of, we call it CRM, crew resource management. Good use of SOPs, standard operating procedures, all the things that you train all the time. It really comes down to, like you said, train like you fight.
Bryan:And then the day you actually have to go out and do it, it's going to be so much less stressful.
Paula:Yeah, exactly.
Bryan:So something that probably added a little bit of stress to your plate that day was you were fresh off of maternity leave when you did this mission. Right?
Paula:Yes. So I was just off of maternity leave, so August of 2022, and the mission was the 12th October 2022. So I was just requalified getting back into the the swing of things when this mission happened. Also, we were a newer crew. It was the 1st Life Stokes for my first officer, the 1st Life Stokes for my flight engineer as well as my med tech.
Bryan:Okay. Well
Paula:So a lot of first for the Stokes, fresh off from Madelief, myself, and a lot of first for the crew and a younger crew as well. Mhmm. So less experience flying us, say, for flight hours on a on an average, we were younger.
Bryan:Yeah. But again, that's where that training pays off. Right?
Paula:Yeah. Exactly. So it was really amazing after the fact, even today to look back on it as a crew and reflect on how I don't wanna say inexperience, but we had fewer flight hours.
Bryan:Mhmm. You were somewhat of a junior crew.
Paula:Yeah. Junior crew. That's what I'm looking for. So we were a junior crew And really working as a a team and our communication is really what allowed us to be successful with the mission.
Bryan:So you mentioned just now reflection. When did it set in that you and your crew had accomplished something out of the ordinary? And how did you find out that you had won the award?
Paula:Yeah. So there was an email actually that came out and was sent out about the Comoran trophy to us requesting that we would submit a mission that we thought would potentially be a mission that would that would be awarded the Comrade Trophy. And I myself actually sent in our mission.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:I got laughed at a bit about doing so just by its name as the Comeron trophy, and no griffin squadron has ever gotten the Comerade trophy. So I had sent the submission in, And a few months later, in January 2023, roughly, we got a call to do an interview with one of the members of the board, I'll call it, for the missions that were submitted for the Khmer Trophy. And at that point, I was a little bit caught off guard because I honestly didn't think that we would have a chance.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:And so we did the interview, and I got an email on the 12th September 2023 with an email letter saying, from my CO, I was away from the squadron on my flight instructor course at the time, saying that we were awarded the Cumberland Trophy for that mission. So it was it was crazy. I I read the email multiple times. Wow. Like, is this this is this is real.
Paula:Yeah. So that's how we found out, and that's that's when I knew, wow, that that this is something very special.
Bryan:Yeah. Can you tell us what the Cormorant trophy is?
Paula:Yeah. So the Cormorant trophy started in 2002. Leonardo Helicopters, which is a company that makes the Cormorant, they commissioned the trophy to be presented annually to a civilian government or military Canadian helicopter crew that had performed the most demanding rescue of the year.
Bryan:That says it right there, like, most demanding. And just from listening to your story, that is way above and beyond your average day. And I imagine I know rescues probably very often are complex and stressful, but this one really was something out of the ordinary.
Paula:Yeah. I think the big wow we'll say for for this mission, we didn't necessarily have complications with weather, which is often a huge factor in SAR missions, and, yes, you nailed it. Most of the missions are stressful and complex. It was really the fact that we were pushing the Griffon, the helicopter, to its absolute limits Mhmm. In the SAR platform and and what we use the the Griffin for to succeed in the mission.
Paula:At every point throughout the mission, that's what we were doing. We were at the limits of the Griffin the entire time, the entire day for this mission. And, again, a junior crew as well, which not necessarily added to the complexity of the mission, really, but just ensuring that we were really working with those standard operating procedures, those checklists, really making sure that that communication was clear and concise, and working as a team as well with the 3 SARTACs that we had on board from 4 to 4 squadron. Mhmm.
Bryan:What would you say was the biggest thing you learned from this mission?
Paula:I think the biggest thing that I learned from this mission was for 1, the capability of the Griffin and pushing it to its absolute limits and being able to witness what it's really capable of. There's a lot of talk with a tsar and that the where the griffin is. Maybe not necessarily not that it's not capable of of SAR, but it's not necessarily the best platform to carry out SAR with us. We talked about its its limitations as a helicopter in comparison, especially to the Comoran. But I I really learned that day that even if the Griffon does have its limitations, it is quite capable of carrying out a complex mission and right to its limits of of the machine.
Paula:And I really understood the extreme power of working completely with a team towards a common goal and appreciating so much that team environment and that teamwork and our abilities as a whole to problem solve in a very stressful environment. So that mission for me was really encompassing kind of all the training, all the limitations that I really thought were there initially, we as a crew Mhmm. Push the limitations of ourselves and our expectations of ourselves even to the very end or past what we believed were our limitations given.
Bryan:It's such a cool learning experience and a growth experience.
Paula:Yeah. Was it was I think we all have put limitations on ourselves For sure. Our beliefs and what we are capable. And I think that day that really showed me that I am capable and we as a crew are capable of so much more than we expect from ourselves.
Bryan:I really hope that any pilots who are listening, especially, I'll say younger pilots who are in training or people who are thinking about joining, I hope that they're picking up on how much you're talking about the teamwork aspect and how much anytime you catch yourself even saying I, you step back and say we. And it's so important. I think some people have this image of a pilot as a person who stands alone and does it all by themselves. And that's just not true. It's kind of a myth, I think.
Paula:Yeah. Definitely, there is no eye for anybody in SAR specifically and definitely for other event, We could not have done that mission as we did as single individuals.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:I truly believe that we would not have been successful in the mission or any mission for that matter, working as an individual. It's really teamwork.
Bryan:So we're down to our last three questions that we always ask. The first one is, what is the most important thing you do to keep yourself ready for your job?
Paula:Yeah. So for me, I maintain in the books. As I alluded to early on with the the training that was I alluded to early on with the the training that was difficult. I'm not somebody that has a huge capacity for memory. So I need to make sure personally myself that I continue to maintain in the books to make sure that I'm prepared for these missions and know exactly what the rules and the regulations are, emergencies, reviewing them.
Paula:So that's something that I do personally, and I know that's something that I need to do
Bryan:Mhmm.
Paula:To ensure that I'm ready and that makes, again, we talked about stress. So I know that I know these rules and regulations and that's why I need to review them all the time to ensure that that's not something that I need to look at in the middle of a mission. Yeah. You can't you can't do that. So
Bryan:The last thing you need is to be like, oh, what's the rule here? Like, am I allowed to do this? Like, you don't need to be worrying about that when you're in the middle of a mission.
Paula:Yeah. Exactly. So for me, staying in the books, making sure that I'm reviewing, and and sometimes there's rules that change. So we need to make sure that we're on top of that, on top of our our training to be able to perform to our absolute best.
Bryan:For sure. What do you think makes a good SAAR pilot?
Paula:I love this question. When I saw this, I was like, oh, man. So we talked about it throughout. You have to be somebody that's really good at working in a team. You can't be an individual.
Paula:Mental resilience, like we also spoke about, the ability to solve problems quickly. And, again, not necessarily by yourself, but be able to come up with some solutions in a stressful environment. Again, like we said, it's gonna be that person's worst day. And you need to be able to be there and for mission completion. So definitely working as a team, mental resilience, and, quick problem solving.
Bryan:Okay. So I want you to picture somebody who is hoping to go SAR or somebody who just got posted to a SAR squadron. What would your advice be to that SAR pilot who is just starting out?
Paula:My advice for somebody that is just starting out is to take every opportunity to expand their knowledge and their understanding of SAR, and that is putting in the work. So training, if you're not scheduled for a flight that day, getting into questions and their OJTP, so they're on the job training plan. So that's the development from first officer up to aircraft commander. There's lots of questions in there that can assist them in developing or sitting in the back, taking every opportunity to grow, whether that be in the in the aircraft or at the desk.
Bryan:Awesome. Okay, Paula. That does it for the interview today. So for our listeners, Paula is actually down on a course in Winnipeg, and she is visiting my good buddy, her brother, Ryan, who just lives around the corner from us. So she actually took time out of her visit with family today to come and do this interview.
Bryan:So thank you so much for that. We really appreciate it.
Paula:Yeah. No problem. My pleasure.
Bryan:Okay. That's gonna wrap up our chat about rotary search and rescue and the mission that earned Paula and her crew, the Cormorant trophy for 2022. Bravo Zulu to Paula and her crew. For our next episode, we're going to sit down with major general retired and now author, Scott Clancy, and we'll be chatting about his new book, developing coaching leaders, as well as all things leadership in the RCAF, whether that's in the air or on the ground. Do you have any questions or comments about anything you've heard in this episode?
Bryan:Would you or someone you know make a great guest on the show, or do you have any great ideas for a show? You can reach out to us at the pilot project podcast atgmail.com or on all social media at atpodpilotproject. We'd like to thank you for the continued growth we've been experiencing and, as always, ask for your help with the big three. That's like and follow us on social media, share with your friends, and follow and rate us 5 stars wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for now.
Bryan:Thanks for listening. Keep the blue side up. See you.
Bryan:Engineer, shut down all 4. Shutting down all 4.