Thank you, Crouton ("Greyhound faster than Sea King")

[bossi]

Chopper spanned 3 provinces in 2 weeks
Where mechanics are the heroes

Chris Wattie
National Post
Thursday, February 26, 2004

SEA KING TAKES LONGER TO CROSS CANADA THAN A BUS: A Greyhound bus travels from Victoria to Halifax in four days and four hours.
CREDIT: Rob Galbraith, Calgary Herald

Nearly two weeks after a Canadian Forces Sea King began what was to be a five-day trip across the country, a series of mechanical, electrical and weather problems has left it stranded in the Prairies.

Sea King 436 was in Regina yesterday, less than halfway through its flight from Victoria to Halifax, after being repeatedly grounded by faulty hydraulics, short-circuited instruments and a broken heater.

The 40-year-old helicopter began its trip on Feb. 13 and was expected at CFB Shearwater, N.S., by Feb. 18. Instead, it has been plagued by breakdowns that have kept it in the hangars three days for every day it was able to fly.

Captain Jason Proulx, a spokesman for 17 Wing in Shearwater, said the helicopter ran into problems just one day after it left its West Coast base and arrived in Calgary. "They developed a hydraulic problem," he said yesterday. "They fixed that, then they found an electrical problem."

The Sea King was grounded for another five days while the crew of three mechanics which always accompanies the aircraft on long trips worked on repairs.

On Feb. 20, the helicopter was able to leave on the next leg of its voyage and attained Saskatoon.

Although the Sea King landed safely, the next morning the crew discovered new technical difficulties -- two of its instruments were broken and needed to be fixed.

"And it turned out the heater was malfunctioning as well," Capt. Proulx said.

After two more days in a rented civilian hangar, the helicopter was ready to fly again and made the hop to Regina on Monday. There, it was grounded by bad weather until today, and Capt. Proulx said the Sea King‘s pilots hoped to make it as far as Ontario by the end of the day.

"These types of snags are not unusual -- they‘re par for the course," he said. "It‘s an old aircraft and we‘re flying it across the country."

He said the aircraft technicians worked long hours to get the Sea King back in the air. "The aircrew fly that aircraft based on the trust they have in the maintainers," he said.

The Sea Kings have been described by their pilots as "10,000 nuts and bolts flying in loose formation." They have been a constant source of embarrassment for the government and a symbol for those who say the Liberal government has neglected the Canadian Forces over the past decade.

Under Jean Chretien, who cancelled a Tory contract to replace the helicopters soon after his election in 1993, the Sea King replacement program was stalled for more than a decade.

Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, announced that replacing the 1960s-era Sea Kings would be a priority for his government and quickly approved a $3- billion contract to buy a new fleet of 28 of the ship-borne helicopters.

Jeremy Sales, a spokesman for the Department of National Defence, said the two companies competing for the contract are to submit their proposals to the department by April 30.

He said a decision will be made "by this summer" on whether the Cormorant or Sikorsky helicopter will replace the Sea Kings. "They‘re moving as quickly as they can to complete the process."

The first of the new helicopters is not expected until 2008. The full fleet is to be phased in by 2010. By then, some of the Sea Kings now in service will be almost 50 years old.

For purposes of comparison, a passenger bus could travel from Victoria to Halifax in four days and four hours.

 

[nULL]

The new helicopter contract by the torries was done out of spite, not a sense of sympathy for the forces. In much the same way that chretien sought to leave a "legacy" (and a huge mess for paul martin) by pushing forward with over a billion dollars for VIA rail and delving into controversial issues such as same-sex marriage, mulroney just wanted to spend billions of federal dollars (at a time when the feds were still running a deficit) to...

a.) leave his party in good standing with the forces

b.) **** up things for the next government

It would be almost like if the Liberals were going to lose this election, then days before approving the purchase of billions of dollars of equipment, reinstating the airborne regiment, etc.

If anything, it‘s a positive step that they are willing to approve a 3 billion dollar contract at the BEGINNING of their mandate.

 

[Gunnar]

Point of Order: the Liberals are at the end of their mandate. Don‘t confuse internal party politics with the electoral process. Martin didn‘t win a general election running for PM. He won a Liberal Party election.

I don‘t feel encouraged by what a Liberal, who was content to do and say nothing prior to now, decides to do at the end of his term.

 

[garb811]

Heh...Gunnar beat me to the punch on my first para while I was doing a bit of research but I‘ll keep it in anyway.

Well, the current Government is actually near the end of its mandate with the last general election being held in Nov 00. Just because the party votes in a new leader doesn‘t mean they have a new mandate from the electorate. According to the Elections Canada Website the next general election must be held no later than 18 Dec 05 but traditionally elections are called at around the 4 year mark. Signs are pointing to an election in the near future as well, ie. the Budget being presented on 23 Mar is being touted as an "election budget". It is also important to Martin that he receive a mandate from the electorate for "his" agenda as the current Government was elected on Chretien‘s.

As for your assertion the last helicopter contract was signed out of spite, the only thing spiteful to do with that contract was its cancellation, even though it cost $500 million to break it and there was an obvious need for the Sea King to be replaced as they were approaching 30 years of service (purchased in the 60‘s). The first, but certainly not the last, time the Chretien Government spent a ton of money for nothing in return. The project to replace the Sea King was initiated in 1986 with the contract being signed in 1992. With the Liberals being voted in on Oct 25 1993, a minimum of 11 months had passed since the signing, hardly a case of it being done "days before". Strange, though, how this was the one campaign promise Chretien actually followed through on...didn‘t he also promise to scrap the GST if elected?

 

[NMPeters]

nULL, where were you when this contract was signed? Were you in the CF or an active parliamentarian when this happened so that you are basing your statements on fact rather than conjecture? (and before anyone jumps down my throat again, these are rhetorical questions).

You are basing your opinion on your political sympathies and not on the fact that the contract was signed back in the early 90s because of a very real need to replace the Sea Kings. As a result of the cancellation of that contract, we now find ourselves in a desparate need to replace those same helicopters. The contract was not let for political reasons but for need and safety. However it was cancelled as an election platform. Those are facts.