[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Why is that? Genuinely curious. My grandfather was a SAR pilot in WWII, I have absolutely no idea what he did.

In short, they go to places that others are trying to get the #### away from, in conditions nobody wants to work in.

http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/news/arti...cians/hs7g0ibb

https://bootcampmilitaryfitnessinsti...tion-training/

1.3 General Duties of a SAR Tech

CFSSAR Course 48 Graduation ParadeSAR Tech perform duties, which are carried out in all environments, related to search and rescue operations by:

Penetrating wilderness areas by parachute, rappelling, climbing, back-packing and using all-terrain vehicles;
Performing water rescues wearing compressed air breathing apparatus (CABA);
Providing life-saving and sustaining medical care;
Conducting parachute operations day or night over water and all types of terrain;
Moving casualties by improvised and standard stretcher for long distances (one end of shared loads of 90 Kg);
Conducting hoisting/rappelling action from helicopter over sea and all types of terrain;
Conducting diving operations using CABA;
Dispatching SAR equipment from low flying aircraft while working around open doors or ramps;
Conducting mountain rescue operations by climbing rock or ice formations on foot with heavy packs;
Wearing personal survival equipment of 12 Kg while airborne, 12 hours per day;
Loading equipment weighing up to 40 Kg onto aircraft lifting 1.5 m from ground to aircraft;
Responding to in-flight emergencies including fire-fighting;
Remaining highly alert for up to 20 hour per day;
Enduring up to 8 hours of low level flying in bad weather conducting search ops;
Enduring emotional stress of conducting triage in mass casualty situations and when handling human remains;
Enduring immersion in cold water when rescuing victims (includes swimming to, harnessing and being hoisted to a helicopter with the victim); and/or
Enduring high noise, vibration and heat inherent in aircraft operations.

The missions don't always go well, and they are under funded and staffed:

https://www.thestar.com/news/insight..._go_wrong.html

5:33 p.m.

Back up north, Gilbert and his colleagues weigh the risk. If they jump, they know they’ll be without the radio contact — and moral support — of an aircraft keeping watch overhead. And they know the Cormorant chopper plodding up the coast is still hours away.

But with the hunters now unresponsive, they don’t think they have a choice. With daylight dwindling, they parachute from the Hercules.

“Initially we had contact with one SAR tech. It was brief and then it cut out,” the Hercules crew tells the rescue coordination centre after the jump.

“We have seen strobe lights in the water . . . They are still some distance and they are working toward each other by the looks of it but unable to contact them on any frequency,” the crew says, as their plane turns for Iqaluit. The pilots are nearing the legal limit of their duty day and don’t think they’ll get back.

Below, the SAR techs are fighting for their lives.

One has been able to swim to the raft with the hunters and climbs aboard. The second SAR tech tries swimming to the raft but gives up when he can’t fight the waves any longer. He deploys his own one-man life raft, climbs in and starts bailing water.

High winds blew Gilbert off course during the jump and he has become separated from the others.

The SAR techs had agreed that upon landing they would activate one personal locator beacon to indicate they were OK; two if they needed help.

After the jump, one beacon was detected, as planned.

Then from the Arctic darkness comes an electronic cry for help. A second beacon is picked up by satellites, indicating the rescue has gone awry.

6:53 p.m.

The worried calls now start from 8 Wing Trenton, home base for the SAR techs. Told of the plight of the three SAR techs, their deputy commander responds bluntly, “Holy s---.”

“Are they actually on ice or in the water,” Maj. Colin Duncan says in a telephone conversation with the rescue co-ordinator.

“I don’t know. The water there was slushy water. They were in open water for a while . . . they were in the water swimming toward each other,” the RCC officer responds.

“Oh man,” Duncan responds.

“The SAR techs took the decision to jump. We agreed.. . . Now we have the situation with the two beacons going off. We have no idea what is going on,” the RCC says.

With his men in the water, Duncan urges action.

“I think if we’ve got guys in the water and we’ve lost communications with the boat, we absolutely need to get people on top,” Duncan says.

But at this point, the three SAR techs might as well be on the moon. The Cormorant is still two hours away.

In the blunt assessment of the rescue co-ordinate centre, “They are on their own.”

Despite the “emergency situation,” there is no aircraft to provide cover for the SAR techs. Nor is there an aircraft to accompany the Cormorant on its overwater leg. The Hercules from Greenwood is still hours away.