The OTF (operational training flight was created in the early 80's to provide realistic and standardized sar training to prospective CH113/113A Labrador pilots and flight engineers. Since I have a hard time thinking up ways to describe it I am going to use an article that pretty much explains the role of the Lab OTF and it's raison d'etre.
Much thanks to Sgt Al Banky (sar tech) right now posted in Victoria B.C. working as A/Air Controller and NCO I/C RCC Victoria, article was reprinted from the Safety Digest (edition # 4/1997)
The student's voice is hesitant, almost questioning, "clear right for ten. Move right for ten. Continue right for five..four..three..two..one..steady right." Like a voice- activated machine, each command moves the huge labrador helicopter closer to a wall of towering cedars. When the machine finally settles to the ground, the rear ramp opens, and the student and his instructor pace the distance off to the nearest tree; 20 feet, a little close for training but well within limits for a real rescue mission. In a world where split-second decisions can mean the difference between life and death-both for the rescuers and those being rescued-realistic training and confidence building are the keys to success- AND TO SAFETY! Sgt Ian Davenport is a typical member of the search and rescue (SAR) team; as the Chief Flight Engineer Instructor at Comox-based 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron's Labrador Operational Training Flight (OTF) , he is responsible for training the labrador's "hands and eyes," the flight engineers who operate the hoist and call clearances in the labrador's blind spots-on a lab anything aft of the pilot's seat is a blind spot. Despite his dry sense of humour , Davenport (Ian) is very serious when he talks about his responsibilities, "The integrity of our SAR crews depends on mutual trust; if I turn out a student who can't be trusted to perform under extreme stress, then I've failed the system and put lives at risk!"
The OTF (operational training flight) crew stop and pose before the most famous landmark in the Comox Valley, the Comox Glacier, which is probably also one of the most photographed.(for obvious reasons)
The Cormorant (15 July 2002)OTF uses the same training methods as the Comox-based Buffalo OTF and the Trenton-based Hercules OTFs. "We start our students crawling, than work up to walking, before getting them to run" says OTF pilot instructor Capt Martin Combe. "students start with simple manoeuvres and work their way up to more difficult ones, as they progress through the course, we try and put them in more and more realistic training scenarios. It's a real eye-opener for the students the first time they land the lab in a 100 by 200 foot clearing in 100 foot trees. By the time a student graduates from the OTF, training scenarios include every element of a real SAR mission,except for the victims.
The 442 Cormorant OTF (and buffalo) is an" on type" aircraft course, when pilots and engineers are posted to the CH-149 Sar world they must attend this course in sunny Comox to get their initial qualification and then they would continue their training at the Sqn they were posted to.
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