This could have ended bad, big thanks to our American friends

[steve185]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/fishing-vessel-rescue-yarmouth-nova-scotia-1.5934485

31 sailors rescued in the Atlantic by American and Canadian Coast guards.

[Seahawk]

Excellent. Great group(s)!

I was the Chief Government pilot at the Sikorsky Factory when you folks were looking to replace the CH-46's in the mid 1990's.

I did all the demo flights with the Canadian pilots, which was a hoot.

They end-up going with the CH-149, which, based on their requirements, was a good move.

[911 Rod]

Glad to see there was a happy ending.
The stress level for everyone must have been off the charts.

[pwd72s]

Kudos to the rescuers. Also, thanks for the post. Great to read some good news for a change.

[steve185]

[QUOTE][Great to read some good news for a change/QUOTE]
That's what I thought too!
The Canadian Helicopter is Air Force, not coast guard, my mistake.

[Sooner or later]

Great news!

[Seahawk]

[QUOTE=steve185;11246774]

[Great to read some good news for a change/QUOTE]
That's what I thought too!
The Canadian Helicopter is Air Force, not coast guard, my mistake.

All good. Fantastic job by all.

The interesting thing to me when I was working with the Canadian's on their replacement helicopter was the Arctic requirements; the distances and the amount of gear they have to carry should they need to land. I though Connecticut was cold

Great group, really thoughtful pilots.

[unclebilly]

I saw this briefly on the news this morning and can relate.

On July 1 1995, I was commercial fishing off Tofino. It was opening day of the Salmon Trolling season and we had just recently taken the boat back from some idiots who had leased it from us for Shrimp fishing (we had salmon and shrimp licenses on that boat).

I was about 5 miles off shore and we had just got the gear in the water. I went into the cabin to use the head. When I came back out a few minutes later, the lazarette had about a foot of water in it. My new deckhand asked if this was 'normal'... clearly it was not.

I swung the boat around toward Tofino, called in a Mayday to Coast Guard, and we pulled the gear as fast as we could. Coast Guard had us put on our survival suits. USGC sent up a helicopter from Neah Bay as well to assist. Canadian coast guard out of Tofino sent out their life boat and 2 zodiacs. The boat did not have sealed bulkheads, I had a hold full of ice and full fuel tanks.

We made it to Lennard Island, at the entrance to Tofino harbor where I met up with the first of the zodiacs. The chopper returned to base - I don't know how close they got. When I was on the deck talking to the Coast Guard guys, the engine sucked water and hydraulic'd bending one connecting rod.

They got 2 trash pumps on the boat, and towed us into Tofino. All this happened before 10:00AM.

I spent the day cleaning up crap, spraying the electric stuff with WD-40, and unbolting the engine (Bedford 466 Diesel). We pulled the engine and gear (marine transmission), hauled it home, pulled the head and pan and removed the bent rod, found a replacement (before this stuff was on the internet), circulated the water out of the gear (this was a big ordeal), and got it back together in 2 weeks.

The source of the leak was an access panel that the guy who had rented the boat removed for smuggling (likely) which was not put back. The panel was way under the checkers and there was no reason to check if it had been tampered with. The bilge pump in that section had failed, the scuppers (deck drains) were pretty low and once they got under water, the hull filled pretty quickly. I did cram my rain gear in the scuppers to slow the leak and this played a role in our rescue.

I can relate to the guys who were rescued. It was pretty nervous for a guy in his early 20s running a boat off shore...

[steve185]

The last two days here in the Maritimes have been the coldest of the winter. Must have been cold on that boat, never mind hanging from a helicopter.

[kach22i]

It took about 12 hours for JRCC to clear everyone off the Atlantic Destiny, Owens said it would have taken even longer if the Americans hadn't helped.

Long time to get everyone off the ship, right?

[onewhippedpuppy]

I love boating, but this is why the ocean scares the hell out of me. Good news story though, nice change from most current events.

[billybek]

Glad everyone was Ok but think of the scallops!

Also glad that we are not still running Sea Kings in this role.

[pwd72s]

From the article description, it took some pretty nifty flying by some very skilled crews..

[pmax]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/atlantic-destiny-scallop-trawler-towed-engine-failure-1.4033153

A combination of maintenance gaps, a broken emergency stop mechanism and the actions of an inexperienced crew member were to blame for the catastrophic engine failure aboard scallop dragger Atlantic Destiny last year, a Transportation Safety Board investigation has found.

On March 14, Atlantic Destiny lost main engine power about 370 kilometres south of Yarmmouth, N.S. Thirty-one people were on board the factory freezer trawler, which is based in Riverport, N.S. Atlantic Destiny is part of the fleet owned by Ocean Choice International of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The TSB also found the company did not ensure crews were regularly testing the engine safety systems.

"If engine safety systems are not periodically tested in accordance with manufacturers' recommended schedules and repaired accordingly, there is a risk that engine safety systems will not operate as intended when a malfunction occurs," reads the report.

"As well, if untrained personnel are placed in an unfamiliar work environment, there is a risk that they will perform tasks incorrectly, which could lead to an accident or an injury."

Prior engine failure in 2017.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

That is one serious looking piece of machinery.

[porsche930dude]

Im surprised they still lift people off one at a time. Youd think they could drop a small cage that could hold 4 or 6 people standing buckle in and go up.

[Rikao4]

well you have to get them on-board..
one at a time is tricky enough..
a sling load of screaming ladies is just crazy..
it's a dance with several different bands playing at once..

Rika

[porsche930dude]

it could be built to lock in solid and exit without drama. there must be some legal reason

[steve185]

They also had to fly about 130 miles to shore to drop them off, then fly back. Miracle they got everyone off.
It is a serious helicopter!
So is yours.

[steve185]

AND! how many nations in the world can say to their neighbour, we need some fuchin help and it happens this fast!
Thankyou! Hope we are there for you too.