On 22 December, Michael Tutton of the Canadian Press filed a report on difficulties experienced with the HELRAS tethered sonar installation on the ‘Block 1’ Cyclone helicopters.[1] Apparently, there is a potential for a ‘trap strike’ between the sonar projector and the C-RAST, which is a new model of the […]
Canadian Maritime Aviation
15 posts
Residents of Halifax are sighting the Sikorsky H-92 Cylcone in flight over the Shearwater airfield and in the local area. I saw the first one last Saturday, but other residents are reporting that they have been active around the airfield for the last three weeks. The Cyclone has a distinctly […]
Friday’s news carried a couple of stories that speculated on whether or not the Sikorsky H-92 ‘Cyclone’ helicopter deal will be cancelled. CBCNews ran a story, entitled ‘Other options’ sought for Sea King Helicopter replacements, that quoted Public Works spokesperson Amber Irwin as saying, “the government is considering other options […]
Recently, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald has carried four items relating to the CH-124 Sea King and the CH-148 Cyclone. The first was “Sea Kings’ 50th birthday still a point of pride” by Marilla Stephenson (19 July), the next was an editorial, “A question of safety for Sea Kings” (26 July) which […]
There is an article in the press that suggest completely different views on when the first operational H-92 ‘Cyclone’ helicopter (CH-148 in Canadian military terms) will be delivered to the Canadian Forces by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. Greg Weston’s article for CBC News is entitled ominously “New helicopters may not be […]
* Moderator’s Note: This is an excerpt of an article originally published in Airforce Magazine, (Winter, 2008): 11 – 16. It is reprinted here with the permission of the publisher. The article provides an analysis of the fates of the lost Sea Kings. My thanks to Christine Hines, Curator at […]
[Thursday, 10 November 2011] There have been few aircraft in Canada’s aviation history that have provided enduring and outstanding service worthy of note more than the Sea King maritime helicopter. In 2013, the Sea King’s Golden Jubilee will commemorate 50 years of service to Canadians and Canadian interests throughout the […]
Ken Hansen has exposed yet another issue concerning defence procurement. The people who prepared the SOR for the CH 148 Cyclone failed to consider the full range of combat and non-combat operations that the CF may have to undertake over the life of that helicopter. If they had considered the […]
There are now two new Sikorsky H-92 ‘Cyclone’ maritime helicopters at Shearwater. (You can read more about the Maritime Helicopter Project here.) The first arrived in May and a number (which varies depending on the source) of ‘interim’ aircraft will follow soon. The ‘final configuration’ aircraft are supposed to begin […]
It seems that these birds have escaped the chopping block for now, and the government will opt for a compromise on the AIMP continuation option that Col. Cable identified. On December 18, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced that at least ten CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft are to resume their […]