Truth Duty Valour Episode 308 – Aurora’s

troops prepare for a raid on an insurgent training camp soldiers guard a humanitarian aid convoy they need information to help them make the right tactical decisions being informed helps to ensure minimum risk and maximum safety the intelligence needs to be gathered covertly secretly you cannot alert your enemy every bit of information is critical on the battlefields of tomorrow the commander's no.1 unit who is up to the task it's a new rule for this specialized Air Force unit but they're up for the challenge they are Canada's eyes in the sky the Aurora's [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign of World War two allied convoys were being devastated by wolf packs of German u-boats British and Canadian Navy's had only limited success against submarines something needed to be done to keep the u-boats in check it was during these troubled times that Royal Canadian Air Forces 407 squadron was formed and like other allied Air Force units they changed the course of the war for the Allies originally a strike squadron tasked with sinking enemy shipping 407 squadron gained a reputation for its tenacious attacks in a period of 19 months the squadron destroyed an estimated 500,000 tons of enemy shipping thus earning its nickname the demons this was the origin of Canada's maritime patrol aircraft at the start of the Cold War surveillance of Canada's vast coastlines became vital the threat of a Soviet submarine attack was very real anti-submarine warfare was part of the new reality for our nation strike squadrons were renamed maritime patrol squadrons keeping their eyes and ears on the oceans both of Canada's maritime patrol squadrons 407 in Comox BC and 405 in Greenwood Nova Scotia were equipped with the Avro Lancaster through the 1950s and 60s newer aircraft were introduced the Neptune started service in 1955 although the primary role of the Neptune was anti-submarine warfare anti-shipping was also considered an important ability in 1968 it was replaced with the CP 107 Argos the Argos gained a reputation as a workhorse and had tremendous endurance with a flight crew of five and an additional six sensor operators the aircraft frequently flew missions in excess of 20 hours in 1981 a new vastly improved aircraft would take its place in Canadian aviation history the CP 140 Aurora leftenant Colonel Mike Hogan commanding officer of 407 squadron and Comox BC has flown the Aurora for 15 years he's a veteran of thousands of flight hours and hundreds of missions with the Aurora it's the only aircraft he's ever flown well it was a major improvement to what we had had previously came in the service of 1981 it's a Lockheed design the p3 and then Canada purchased 18 Aurora's all the mission equipment was installed in Halifax so it was all Canadian design major improvement because its predecessor the Argus was an unpressurized airplane a very very good airplane at any submarine warfare and maritime patrol but it was unpressurized it could fly for a really long time but it had to because to get out to the middle of the ocean it it flew slower and it flew at a lower altitude so in the Aurora came on stream it made a major change in in how we could operate the things that make this airplane so good for the job it does is one it can go very fast so four hundred knots and it can do that at a low altitude and the fact that it can stay on station for a long time so it can sprint out to an area at high speed and then slow down and maintain on station searching for submarines or ships a long ways out to sea for a long time and then sprint back home and bring the information with its four big GE turboprop engines the CP one for your aura has a very long range it's capable of flying from British Columbia to Scotland without refueling it can stay airborne for over 16 hours equipped with a variety of powerful sensors and weapons Suites it is a potent surveillance and weapons delivery platform anytime you talk about Canada you have to realize that you're talking about the second biggest country on earth with the world's longest coastline we're a three ocean nation the Atlantic the Pacific and the Arctic and operational commanders need an aircraft that can be the eyes and ears and a time the fists of operational commanders Canada purchased 18 Aurora's in all 13 they're based in Greenwood and five in Comox together they helped secure Canada's ocean frontier in this day and age everything is about information we got a small force in Canada but we got a very agile force we have to rely on information collection of information and dissemination of information and this airplane is built exactly to do that the end of the Cold War caused many changes Soviet submarines no longer posed a threat did this mean the end for maritime patrol aircraft or was it just the beginning of a new era and challenges for Canada's aurorus [Music] the CP 140 was designed to be a deadly hunter-killer of enemy submarines searching across vast tracts of ocean but the end of the Cold War signaled a change in priorities and missions sometimes the missions were not even for the military the aurora is a very flexible and mobile and powerful aircraft and we can work for a wide variety of ways to help defend a country of course you have our national defense tasks where I will work for the Air Force I work for the Navy out of the water or for the army over the land but also when we're over the water for example I might be doing a mission for in support of Department of Fisheries and Oceans I will be looking at the environment is somebody polluting out there that's important to keep track of immigration and we'll be checking to see if vessels where the legal migrants are coming ashore so if it's a threat to the nation over the wide spectrum we could be involved in defending against it captain ray Rainman megan has been flying on the Aurora's as tactical navigator for over 13 years he's participated in a wide variety of missions on the aurora I've gone on submarine patrols we were looking specifically for a certain type of submarine I've done multiple exercises training with coalition units or other countries did a patrol and then northern region and we were patrolling up there on one occasion we were sent to Winnipeg to do assistance to the flood in 1997 there we were looking for anyone who was trapped on the roof of their house and we'd vector a helicopter and to help them or give updates to the coordinating and the and the public to give them imagery to see what's going on how high the water had risen in 1999 during an exhaustive search of the Pacific Canada's Aurora's found several small boats crowded with illegal migrants using their sophisticated radar the Aurora's were there to spot illegal activities at sea before they became a problem on land captain Warren whiskey right joined 407 squadron in 2003 and is a pilot and crew commander on the Aurora we have a large variety of roles essentially when we fly out of Comox we're doing training missions or exercises working with the Canadian Navy or the American Navy that's required also we conduct long-range patrols and essentially we do those to monitor what is considered Canada's area of responsibility and we monitor shipping traffic information is key for all areas of the military as well as other government to organizations whether it's the army the Navy or the Air Force and the more information that you have the better decisions they are able to make and we're here to provide that information although aircraft like the Buffalo and cormorant are usually involved in search-and-rescue missions the Aurora also has an important role to play SAR missions are particularly meaningful to the crew it's about saving lives about making a difference when we are conducting a search-and-rescue mission either one that we've taken off planning to do or planning to support or one that's happened while we're airborne it always has a different sense of urgency it's a real operation where someone's life is at stake and we know we have to do our job effectively or someone could die Canada also has international duties once again the aurora aircraft and their professional crews have been tasked to help between 1993 and 1995 the Aurora's flew patrols over the adriatic sea based in southern italy they were there to help enforce UN arms embargo resolutions regarding the civil war in the former Yugoslavia it was called Operation sharp guard then 9:11 the world Stood Still the United States and its allies would soon respond the aurora would also have a part to play in the International Campaign against terrorism that followed following the tragedy of September 11 we were dispatched to the Persian Gulf and we were conducting sovereign air surveillance operations looking for escaping terrorists that were trying to you know move across the Arabian Sea or across the Persian Gulf probably the most most satisfying part of my career so far we had unbelievable team spirit we launched a mission every day for 180 days out of the six months we never missed a mission because the airplane was broken if the airplane was broken we got it fixed or we flew the mission despite that for some crew members it was a long-awaited opportunity to put their training to the test surveillance that truly made a difference locating terrorists up Apollo was very fulfilling to me because we've done so much training as well as local missions which are also very important it just felt different when we finally were able to participate in something real something was substantial especially in the light of what happened in 9/11 there was some fear of danger because now we are in a threat environment versus a training environment but it was definitely outweighed by all the support we were able to give [Music] 9:11 cut major shifts in the geopolitical landscape it was also the catalyst for upgrades on the surveillance camera equipment on the aurorus this means new rules new missions new risks and for battle commanders both at sea and on land it means rethinking how aurorus can meaningfully contribute captain Craig chicken little is an acoustic sensor operator on the Aurora train to listen for subs he's picked up signals of exciting new plans for the Aurora with the changing environment we're doing less and less anti-submarine warfare and so with some of the new sensors that we have placed on the aircraft definitely there there is a push towards utilizing these sensors and providing support to our brothers in arms' we're constantly trying to show people what we can do and so that they can't ask us and use us in the most beneficial way possible if there's an emergency a national emergency in this country I guarantee you this airplane is going to be overtop providing information to the commanders to decision-makers when the biggest threat to Canada is probably its terrorist threat and domain awareness knowing what's going on over the oceans is extremely extremely important so the nation needs to know who's approaching who's leaving and what they're doing and the aurora is the platform that goes out and finds that information for them when we return a look at the array of sensors and equipment and make the Aurora such a valuable part of Canada's coastal surveillance [Music] standing on guard for the sovereignty security and safety of Canada requires having highly specialized equipment at your disposal it's the eyes and the ears as well in the sky we see it all and we hear most of it and it was Wellington himself who said he spent his entire military career worrying about what was on the other side of the hill the Aurora tells you what's on the other side of the hill communication devices radars cameras the Aurora is equipped to be able to respond to any number of situations an operational crew normally consists of ten specialized members highly trained to maximize the Aurora's potential for for the front end here in the cockpit normally we have a pilot or copilot they can sit in either the left or right seat and in the center seat is where the flight engineer sits and essentially the flight engineer is responsible for assisting the the pilots with any emergency drills that occur and emergency actions that are required and they also monitor the engines during every flight maintaining ensuring that the aircraft is running at the optimum performance we also have the hope below here's our armament panel and that's where we control the actual bomb bay doors for any torpedoes or armament that we're carrying in the aircraft we're capable of carrying torpedoes as well as they SCAD which is survival kit air droppable so that if we were tasked for a search and rescue mission we will be capable of dropping a set of life rafts to people in the water and it's controlled not only from up front but as well in the back we're capable of dropping anything out of the bomb bay the communications and tactical personnel aboard the Aurora are located in the midsection of the plane away from the observation windows where light could interfere with their sensors and monitors so this is the tack tube for the CP 140 Aurora I can start with the two stations here we have two non-commissioned members that are airborne electronic sensor operators we call them Aesop's they handle all the dry sensors on the aircraft the primary one we use is radar and we also have magnetic anomaly detector mad the magnetic anomaly detector as you see on the outside of the aircraft we have a long boom sticking out the back the purpose of that sensors to detect any kind of abnormalities in the Earth's magnetic field as long as there's no disturbances that day or large effects from the Sun if we fly over a submarine over the water at a lower level we'll be able to detect that he's there due to its size as a metal object in the water the Aurora is equipped with a powerful long-range radar for detecting surface vessels and even periscopes next we'll move on to the navigator communicator station from here you'll see we have two inss which control heading attitude all our reference systems and as well as it provides steering to the pilots toward where we want to go transiting to the area this is a new standalone GPS it's the most up to date for a nav systems as we have and it's not integrated in the computer yet but that is forthcoming for other communication systems our newest piece of equipment would be the iridium satin it's used it's on every day and it's quite handy it's more capable than any other radio we have as it has satellite links the other controls that I have are for the only weapon that we carry right now which is the mark 46 mod 5 a SW torpedo I program it here as well as setup for lunch the pilot controls the bombe they also have capable of launching it but it has to be set up at this station first what we have here is the acoustic station and it's manned by two acoustic sensor operators usually there's a junior operator and a senior operator senior operator offered sits here both stations are totally interchangeable and this is used to to process information that is sent back to the aircraft from sauna boys which we put into the water some of the equipment launched from the aircraft is done from what is called the Ordnance station now basically what you're looking at is you're looking at the Ordnance station of the aircraft what we're responsible for in this part of the aircraft is in these racks we normally carry a sauna voice which for everybody out there sauna boys we have two types we have an active and we have a passive with an active one we can send out a signal into the water and that signal comes back and that gets processed by the acoustic stations and also a passive one that with that is basicly just a big microphone that drops in the water and also gets processed by the acoustic station the other thing is that we carry in here as we would carry our smokes we carry ones that last for about fifteen to twenty minutes they drop in the water there they're activated by the water and they'll they'll light up and we can see that in 2005 a new state-of-the-art surveillance camera was installed and people started to see even more tactical and sour uses for the Aurora one of the key pieces of equipment that we've received is the EO IR which is electro-optical infrared and it's essentially the same camera that you would see utilized on a police helicopter you've seen it on shows like cops and then they use it very effectively for us it's a fantastic piece of equipment and that we use it for to maximize the the effectiveness of the aircraft we're able to pick up objects from a great distance away however out Biden filled me with unparalleled levels of precision and clarity the aircraft has been recognized for its intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance abilities we can be high in the sky five miles away nobody can hear us nobody can see us and yet we can tell an army commander this vehicle is coming to a crossroads these people are walking around outside when we're flying over the ocean we are able to see seals that are up on a reef because of their body heat if we can see a seal in the water on the edge of a reef we can certainly see somebody hiding in a desert or forest terrain even if there are wrapped in a blanket when truth duty valor returns their motto is to hold on high they are proud to serve we find out why they wanted to join the demons [Music] the Canadian Air Force has many aircraft to choose from for those with the urge to fly each squadron is filled with personnel who proudly assist in meeting Canada's defence objectives but what attracts so many to the Aurora platform the for me the draw to fly the Aurora is the fact that it's an operational squadron and unlike some of the other aircraft in the military we we get to travel to a lot of fantastic places and and the jobs that were able to do or is there's such a variety that it's always interesting I started flying the Aurora in 1994 I joined 405 squadron on the East Coast in Greenwood Nova Scotia and I wanted to fly Aurora's as during my training we did kind of visits that eats type of job or each possible navigator job and that one looked the most inviting had a large crew environment 10 people and there was lots of different types of deployments and exercises and jobs variety was very good and interesting to me at the time originally I joined the military I went through the military college program as a pilot and in 1998 I was unsuccessful in my attempt to become a pilot so I ended up working in Winnipeg at the one Canadian Air Division Headquarters and after a year working in a desk job wearing a certainty I decided I wanted to return to wearing my pajamas to work and I decided to go to the intern at her school in Winnipeg go through the year-long training there Ward officer Frances Levesque has spent many years in the forces some of those flying on other aircraft d laura itself had been flying for nine years since my second tour in 407 I did the tool for eight years on her to DS it's our another four engine airplane transport crew and I decided to come back on the Aurora because life at home was a bit more stable when we get deployed we go for two at a time and to hurt you never know when you're at home and for seven it's really good squadron that's why I got back now my own experience from being with the Herc and all that and working previously with the army gave me a bit more experience and now I can bring that to the Aurora world and teach others or to do stuff I'll put my two cents anyway in the system becoming a member of the air crew for the Aurora can mean years of intense training from airborne electric sensor operators to pilots and crew commanders the skills learned are all important to the success of their missions but there are other assets that are valuable traits that you need to be on are your aura crew is a good sense of humor first I would say is a as you are 10 people trying to do one job it's you have to work well with others and a lot of it is good listening skills but also good participation skills being able to put forth a good idea even though if you're not sure if it's the right idea spending up to 12 hours on surveillance operations can take its toll the pressure on the crew can be high you have to be alert observant you have to be able to analyze the information that's coming back to the aircraft be able to to work in a very fast changing environment with a lot of pressure and there's a lot of times where you're not actually looking for submarines or when you are looking there's not a lot of information coming back and so there can be hours of boredom but when the information is coming things are happening fast material there are four air crews at 407 squadron and each one of them needs to work as a team teamwork is a key aspect for the successful operation of the Aurora if we didn't have effective teamwork the Aurora would not be able to function properly if we're not able to work together then we're not able to effectively complete the mission the everybody who's in the back who's monitoring the systems they rely upon us to put the aircraft in the right spot at the right time whereas for us we rely on the people in the back to give us the right information so that when we come together whatever our goal is we can reach it year-round patrolling of the waters of Canada's Coast mean long hours in the air and often because of the nature of surveillance little glory on the airplane if you accomplish something is the bright say hey I was there I done that yeah same thing unhurt and your aura it's a better life family wise because we'll we don't deploy us off and if we deploy us as a group so the glory is harder to come by let's say you know because we are patrolling and you're not gonna find that's why we press rolling and we open not to find drug smuggler or alien smugglers or but we do find them once in a while I don't know if you should call it Laurie or not but we are doing our job it's like policemen on Patrol they don't feel like to give ticket to people but they do have to the same thing for the Aurora community we kind left alone in the corner nobody knows what we're doing one thing that all 407 Squadron members have in common the pride in the work they do you know I guess you love your children and you love your wife and I love the people on the squadron so I don't know if anyone's told you but I stand up in morning brief and I just I guess beam in the morning when I look at the faces the people I'm so proud of them they're they're so smart they're so hard-working they're so dedicated to the forces they want to do their best every single day and you know we just got to give them the tools and and give them the time and and they're gonna go out and amaze us with their with their ability so that's why I love them that's why I love this job and that's why I'm so proud to be in commander coming up next the Aurora can fly day in day out but one group of dedicated personnel makes sure that it can be in the air when it's needed with over 26 years of service the CP 140 Aurora has seen many hours of use many many hours making sure the aircraft stay operable is a huge task a 19 wing Comox getting that job done stays in the family with a total of 275 personnel 407 squadron is unique in Canada in one important way 407 has a very unique makeup it's the largest Air Squadron in Canada mainly because we have our own maintenance section the ground crew consists of I believe it's six tech crews it's a unique to the fact that we have our own maintenance and that is very dynamic in that they're working with us to try and achieve and get a serviceable aircraft to accomplish the mission we're and tear cracks corrosion loose parts in any section of the aircraft can lead to malfunction every part has to be regularly checked to avoid disaster I'm doing the flap wells there's a lot of debris that builds up in there and if it doesn't get cleaned up the moisture can build up in there ribs and the skin of the aircraft as the aircraft taxes or takes off there there's a lot of drag so it just sucks all this dirt and basically what I'm removing out of the flap well is in fact asphalt and it's accumulated in the back of the well there this area is like once a drag right and the anything that's behind the aircraft gets sucked up into here off the ground and it accumulates in these little nooks and crannies and it solidifies and stops moisture from leaving the aircraft through this rain will spirit so what I'm doing is I'm cleaning out this area so that the water or anything once you can can make its way to the grave walls I've been working on the Aurora for 17 years and I loved every minute of it it's great job an old farmer by trade so I mean I'd be considered a dinosaur by some you know they show the recruiting and the guys using the toothbrush for the the cleaning the tiles in the bathroom well this is much too kinky right here and I use this on all parts of the aircraft this is my my tool weapons the 407 Squadron servicing desk is a busy junction on flight days they keep both maintenance and air crews informed about the serviceability of aircraft it's the control center for the ground crew ops upstairs of the control center for the air crew we don't usually hang around but this is where we'll have the snags the ground crew will come here they'll look in the book if there's a snag or the look on the board the board has a corresponding aircraft and the hub snags what's written in red are three four nines they're the majors if it's written in blue in this case it's a minor it can go flying with the minor but it cannot go flying with a major and they'll fix it we coordinated all that down here will coordinate the aircraft will pronate the launches will coordinate the weapons loading will coordinating everything right from here so everything is sent down here it will also answer phones all seven servicing us fulfills me after fixing large aircraft for 15 years and participating in some intense missions flight engineer Francis Levesque found a useful way to burn off stress my hobby it's a building model cycle when they've been doing it for since 1997 long story short I was on the Herc and so awful stuff in Africa Yugoslavia so at home when I was not sleeping yesterday I liked working on bikes over as well so I took a harley-davidson apart if I can fix airplane I cannot work on motorcycles that I got a problem though and I got involved I build a few motorcycle make the Easy Rider issue in 2000 and I'm still building them and matter of fact mine has been an ongoing project for eight years and some of the people call it a Lockheed Davidson I got a few you spurt from her airplane sitting on my bike I enjoyed that very much because I always work on airplane all my life and now I can say my bike got some of the parts I've been working many 407 squadron personnel take part in the annual rally for the Heart and Stroke Foundation my last paint job I had to get it redone like that a local art artists from Courtney to paint an airbrush and her squadron is called a demon so we paint the demon crawling out of the tank with some smoke coming out and we tie him up to a boat fender with a train and railroad peg the ripping fenders for maintenance crews keeping their skills fresh and making sure their standards are up to date is very important especially when you're working with torpedoes the mark or mk46 lightweight torpedo is designed to attack high-performance submarines it has a range of over 8,000 meters a maximum speed of over 50 kilometers an hour and a warhead containing 98 pounds of high explosives we're here from 14 wingreen with Nova Scotia we're joining the Comox crew on standardizing torpedo uploads and downloads on the CP 140 aurora aircraft the exercise is to maintain a standard between the two squadrons on how the tour floating is carried out these are the the standards cruise they're the actual crews that do all the teaching and the instruction for the loading of the CP 140 the Aurora can carry up to 8 mark 46 torpedoes in its bomb bay a dangerous payload for an enemy submarine it has to be handled with care circuit breakers closed check comm a new ice which is set to OFF we check complete [Music] aircraft is now unarmed each load crew is required to do a proficiency load once every month they're required to a monitored load once every 180 days where we will come down and we'll just monitor their progress to make sure there's no safety violations every six months they'll do a certification load where it's one for one for every loader there'll be one person from standards and our job will be to monitor them if we see any safety violations we'll stop them right there when we return reservist from 39 brigade staged a week-long exercise just outside nineteen wing Comox the aurora will get another chance to prove its versatility this time over land [Music] Komets Valley BC over 800 reservists have made the outskirts of town their base camp they're here to protect the innocent they're here to dismantle an enemy camp they're here to deliver humanitarian aid all in close chronological and geographical simony they're here to train in full spectrum operations okay welcome everybody welcome all to our guests we've got one weighs on Oscar playing with us today the aim of the mission today is supporting this cougar solvable event again it's seven o'clock the they'll start a patrol starting around the gate make their way in you know look for any any targeted people any people that they're looking for we currently have exercise cougar salbo which is a 39 Brigade exercise but it's being posted here at 19 when Comox 39 brigade is the militia these are the reserve soldiers and once a year they get together for a major exercise it's a million dollar event and we're hosting it here at the wing and this is an ideal opportunity for the people that operate the Aurora to link with the intelligence and reconnaissance people of 39 brigade for the army to find out what's going on on the other side the hills would require scouts and patrols whereas in minutes we can be over there and nobody ever knows that we've been and looked and we can tell them exactly what they need to know making them more powerful and able to get their missions done [Music] [Applause] [Music] warm [Music] you know this is the final big portion of the exercise rifle companies put in their raid it's bad weather this morning for their movie in real dark [Music] on the ground leaders and troops are challenged to complete their various missions in rapidly changing circumstances having access to aerial support is crucial the role of the Aurora here at Cougar salvo is pretty similar to some of the roles that the Griffin Park takes however obviously it's done awful an awful lot higher because of that the Aurora can fly above almost all of the threats that are here and collect the data unseen completely to the enemy the new MX 20 camera is so powerful that most of its images are classified and not many can be shown [Music] even though this is one of the first time the Aurora participates ground commanders are eager and optimistic they're assisting us in gathering information so they can fly at a high altitude take imagery of of facilities people on the ground and things from from quite a distance that can assist us in our planning and then we can we can talk to them over the radio at certain times if they're there when we're actually conducting an operation we can plan that so we can talk to them throughout an operation the Aurora is ready to point its eye it awaits only orders from ground commanders please observe with infrared tell us how many people are in that location [Music] warez on station now observing the compound in communication this is a rare opportunity for reservists to put into practice years of training they must learn to maximize all the resources at their disposal [Music] training is challenging so the soldiers are learning a lot of lessons we're taking it at the right pace and reviewing things as we're done talking about it taking those lessons learn and then in some cases redoing some things so that the activities are done right and the right lessons are learned [Music] we're now in the parking lot area that isn't we had the Aurora it was just excellent piece of get you know it provided us real-time intelligence over there at 5,000 feet absolutely excellent save la live thing communication is key different forces must speak the same language to accomplish missions together the hardest thing is is the communications and that's really what what they're trying to work on this exercise they've never done it before so they've got to get the the picture from the sky down to the guys on the ground and in this one they've got a good picture of what was going on before the attack happened so they had a good picture of where the enemy were it's a resource that we haven't really had inside of our own forces we've worked with it with other other armies other air forces I see this becoming a much more valuable tool as we go forward it provides us a lot of flexibility a lot of opportunities for different kinds of surveillance missions and really the one of the best things about it is that when they're flying at 10 or 20,000 feet they just look like a commercial air but success in helping the ground forces might mean overstretching a vital resource we weren't as useful to them until we got the MX clean the new West cam camera the oír and now that we have it we have quite quickly proven our ability to them and it's more of a situation of can we afford with all the different roles the Aurora has doing sovereignty patrols off the coast doing north pads at the ace W role working with coalition forces elsewhere as well as trying to do sovereignty over land or assist in in Afghanistan there's only certain number of crews on a certain number of Aurora so it's difficult to try and achieve that role after the break a glimpse at the future of the Aurora and some of the perks of flying this aircraft keeping an eye on our coastal waters spotting and reporting illegal behavior be it smuggling polluting or overfishing protecting our sovereignty saving lives these are some of the responsibilities of the Aurora crew but the job they do also has its advantages what do I love about my job I love the fact that I get to go flying and no matter what if it's raining out I can usually get above the clouds and I'll be able to see the sunshine just about every day so it's just a wonderful feeling of freedom that when you get in the aircraft and you lift off you leave all the other troubles behind from your desk and and the actual flying is very satisfying and for others it's the large crew atmosphere that keeps them here the parts I really love about my job is when I go away and I work with a good crew a nice group of guys you get such a rewarding team atmosphere there's lots of sarcasm that goes in the airplane back and forth and that's all part of the game and you have to take what you're conditioned that happens on the aircraft constantly but the good thing is everybody knows when it's time to get to work we get to work and we do a good job the Aurora incremental modernization project or ainp began in 1998 and is planned to run until 2010 its goal is to revitalize the aurora and turn it into a multi mission platform it's estimated that the improved Aurora's will have to be retired around 2025 the Canadian Air Force when they buy an airplane we use it we keep them serviceable and we fly them and fly them we took delivery of this airplane in 1980 it's now 2007 she served us well and will continue to serve as well but now we have to carefully husband the hours and we manage what we call the yearly flying rate to ensure that this aircraft is still operating at the time that we want to replace it so we maintain the capability that's technicians and aircrew an OP support staff to maintain the long-range patrol so we want to have a seamless transition when the Aurora finally reaches the end of its operating life the Canada will have bought a new long-range patrol aircraft some are suggesting replacing the Aurora's with UAVs known as unmanned aerial vehicles I think the the strategy for the Canadian Air Force for providing surveillance in the future involves a what they call a system of systems so an unmanned vehicle that can do long-term surveillance they can stay out on station for 30 or 40 hours at a time and then they would queue an airplane that was able to come out at high speed like the Aurora be able to if it sees something and it needs to be inspected more closely than the Aurora would come so a combination of space assets unmanned vehicles long endurance and then queued manned aircraft because really to provide surveillance and and control sovereignty you need people on the scene the Aurora has played and will continue to play a vital role in Canada's defense in an age where information is a crucial asset it feels the most important role it is Canada's eyes in the sky [Music] good in the valley flying and all that so now you have to get to reach there in between the middle you say the engineer is there with your experience it's nice to have people will beam on both machines and Ford Road that's all I have to say about that I always say that on the airplane to gal like that way you [Music]

Channel: Truth Duty Valour

Views: 11,134

Rating: 4.8857141 out of 5

Keywords: Royal Canadian Air Force, Canadian air force, Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Forces, Truth Duty Valour, Truth Duty Valor, Pilot, Flying, F18, CF18, Military, Combat, War, Fighter jet, Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, HMCS, Canadian Navy, Warship, Destroyer, Submarine, Naval officer, Sailor

Id: m0-h2knPVFk

Length: 46min 7sec (2767 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 02 2016