Canadian Sovereignty – Search & Rescue – SAR Treaty – May 2011 Reality Check: Can Canada Really use a C-17 Transport to Airlift SAR Helicopters to the Arctic to Perform Aerial Search & Rescue Missions? 
In recent newspaper articles covering Canada commiting to the binding terms of a new Arctic search-and-rescue treaty, several statements have been quoted that require clarifying or debunking. In the latter category is a title –
intentionally misleading it seems –"Arctic search and rescue agreement promises new jobs for Canada's
northern residents". [1] Another is Foreign Affairs' assertions that "Canada is already well-placed to
live up to its obligations" to perform high Arctic SAR.[2]In the category of needing clarification are statements, made by Rob Huebert back in Jan 2011, about Air Force C-17 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft. As quoted, Professor Huebert (at the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies) implies that a CF SAR helicopter could be rushed north aboard one of four CC-177 transports to then perform its SAR mission. Obviously, Professor Huebert would be well aware that such a concept is unworkable. Doubtless, in his original statement, Prof. Huebert was noting the Canadian Forces' fairly recent ability to rotate SAR helicopters in and out of Forward Operating Locations and other northern CF Stations. Airlifting would be an alternative to SAR crews doing tedious (and wear-inducing) flights from their home-bases far to the south. A helicopter flown to the Arctic aboard a CC-177 would arrive partly dis-assembled and would take days to be made ready for any SAR missions. Getting Past the Hypothetical - Using Helicopter Deployments to Afghanistan to Prove a Point A DND news release on transporting the first CH-146 Griffons to Kandahar reveals the realities involved. Even the comparatively small CH-146 utility helicopter – a stalwart of CF rotary-wing search-and-rescue – must be plucked of its rotor blades to fit into the hold of a Boeing CC-177. Once unloaded, the CH-146 must have its blades re-attached by Aircraft Structures Technicians and then the helicopter must perform a functional check flight to ensure complete airworthiness. 
Things become more complicated once scaled up to the CF's dedicated SAR helicopter, the CH-149 Cormorant.
The RAF has flown the British Cormorant equivalent to Afghanistan aboard C-17s. To make the flight, the
RAF Merlin HC3s had to have rotor blades removed along with entire tail sections. Special ground
handling dollies are used to load the Merlin.
Loading at RAF Brize Norton, technicians used ground handling dollies to ensure adequate clearance at the ' breakover
point ' on the loading ramp. Detaching the entire tail section from a Merlin fuselage ensures that the
helicopter's airframe will clear a C-17's upward-folding rear ramp section. Once up onto the C-17's cargo hold
floor, the helicopter can be rolled forward and tied down for its long flight – whether to
Afghanistan or north to the Arctic.And that'd be the easy bit. All done in the relative comfort of a major air base like CFB Trenton. Loading would be backed up by all the specialized equipment and vehicles available at a major air base. Similar handling equipment may also be available at Iqaluit or Yellowknife. Commercial airliners may not be fortunate enough to crash in locations convenient to the Canadian Forces. Great Circle Routes & Airliners Down in the High Arctic: Meh ... How Tough Could that Be? 
The nightmare scenario for everyone is an airliner coming down in a remote part of the High Arctic even in
summer. For example, airliners flying from Europe to western North America fly over Axel Heiberg Island. The closest
runway is CFS Eureka on Ellesmere Island, an austere Station with a gravel airstrip. [3] Even if a
CC-177 could land there, hardly a spot for assembling helicopters.Then there's the question of timing. A hypothetical CC-177 flight from home base CFB Trenton to CFS Eureka would take 5 hours. That's just flying time, it doesn't include loading a helicopter or unloading on arrival in the Arctic (let alone reassembling the SAR aircraft). More realistically, the helicopter could be transported to Nanisivik. But, even from there, an assembled Cormorant would face a three hour flight north to reach CFS Eureka. Then how much longer to a crash site? The short version is that, if an airliner comes down in a more remote part of the Canadian Arctic, survivors of the crash will die waiting for a southern-based Canadian Forces aircraft to respond. And yet, Foreign Affairs insists that Canada can "live up to its obligations". Smoke and mirrors. If Reality Likes Bureaucrats Not, Expect to be Bamboozled with BS & Offered More-of-Same 
At present, Canada's Air Force is ill-equipped to perform its aerial SAR missions around major population centres in
the south. Any suggestion that the CF is prepared for High Arctic SAR is absurd. Invariably, Peter MacKay and
the Chief of Air Staff will once more trumpet the need for new Fixed-Wing Search-and-Rescue aircraft. Intentionally lost in that clamour will be the
ludicrous performance requirements dictated by basing the FWSAR aircraft 3500 km south of where they'll need
to be.For Canadian citizens not to be deluded about the realities of High Arctic SAR and the nation's lack of preparedness, we must be able to see past the projected fantasy. That's difficult enough when Government departments value PR spin above facts. We should be able to rely upon our journalists to provide impartial reporting when our nation has just signed on to a binding treaty obligation. But apparently we cannot. Arctic SAR challenges facing Canada remain unchanged. The SAR problems will not go away by buying new airplanes. And pointing to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton will not save any unfortunates freezing 3500 km to the north. As long as DND is allowed to ignore the need for full-time SAR aircraft based north of Yellowknife, Canada's treaty obligations to provide timely aerial SAR in the Arctic cannot be met. Once SAR aircraft are based in the High Arctic, support by big transport aircraft will doubtless be helpful. But stuffing SAR helicopters into CF CC-177 can never be the panacea suggested by the media. [1] This title seems to be a deliberate garbling of Foreign Affairs statements on the SAR treaty and job prospects inherent in an unrelated Arctic Council agreements on oil & gas exploration. [2] The folks at the Pearson Building probably regard Canada's three Joint Rescue Coordination Centres as akin to readiness. That no JRCC is north of the 49th Parallel probably doesn't signify. [3] CFS Eureka's 'semi-improved' gravel airstrip is 1475m long. See: Danish Air Force Aircraft on a Mission over Canada's High Arctic and Buffalo – Tactical Transport and Arctic Sovereignty. CASR | Arctic Futures | Background | Modest Proposal | In Detail | Editorials |