HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-07-14, Page 1-The Citizen
i
Volume 21 No. 28
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Warden
seeks
meeting
with
province
Huron County warden Doug
Layton will seek a meeting with
provincial ministers to press for a
more effective, infrastructure
funding plan. *
Layton said David Caplan,
Minister of Public Infrastructure
Renewal, had spoken at the western
warden’s caucus in Guelph. June 15
outlining the latest plan and making
it sound useful. However, in his own
municipality of North Huron,
Layton said, not a single road or
street qualified for funding.
“I’m not very impressed.” Layton
said. “It looks like another plan to
put more money into cities. All our
roads and sewers are aging.”
Council approved a motion to
authorize Layton to set up the
meeting. “I’d like to put a fairly
severe request to those guys,” he
said.
Race cars
Attention getter
A crowd gathered on the soccer fields at the edge of Blyth
on Monday to watch the Air Sea Rescue 424 Tiger
squadron out of Trenton do manoeuvres. At the controls is
Shane Loder, son of Keith and Linda, who is a commander.
Loder is leaving Trenton, July 28 for an exchange with the
U.S. Coast Guard in North Carolina. (Bonnie Gropp photos)
Squadron crew does training in Blyth
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
at local
event
By Jim Brown
Citizen staff
Two of the top cars in auto racing
were at Townsend Tire in
Londesborough on Saturday.
Matt Townsend said the cars were
a Formula-1 2003 Ferrari driven by
Michael Schumacher and a 2004
Champ-senes car driven by Paul
Tracy of Canada.
He indicated the cars were booked
for the day about four or five months
ago. Prior to being at the
Londesborough, the vehicle were in
Toronto for the Molson Indy and
Continued on page 7
When Shane Loder came home to Blyth this
week, he certainly got everyone’s attention.
Loder, 30, who is stationed at 8 Wingham CFB
Trenton and is a SAR (Search and Rescue)
aircraft commander with 424 SAR squadron was
in town Saturday and Sunday doing spotter
training for Civil Air Search and Rescue
Association (CASARA). On Monday, it was
standard training with SAR. Captain Loder, was
the pilot of the Canadian Forces C-130 aircraft.
His parents Keith and Linda live beside the
soccer fields, which just happens to be an
excellent location for manoeuvres.
The SAR crew consisted of seven members:
Loder; co-pilot, Capt. Pierre Lamothe; navigator,
Capt. Al Baldry; flight engineer, Sgt. Yvan
Harvey; loadmaster, MCpI Jay Perry; SARTCH
team leder, MCpl Frank Dusceneeau and
SARTECH team member, Sgt. Ed Miller.
“In cases where a long search is anticipated
CASARA spotters will also be part of the crew,”
said Loder.
“We train on a regular basis to maintain our
proficiency in both locating targets, and in
delivering assistance in the form of aerial drops.
The majority of our SAR cases are for marine
emergencies involving boats, canoes, jet-skis, etc.
which are either missing, overdue, or in distress
such as taking on water or capsized. We also have
cases for crashed or missing aircraft, and the odd
CAPTAIN SHANE
LODER
Search and rescue pilot
missing hunter,
hiker, fisherman, as
well as people on
ski-doos and
ATVs.”
He said frequent
aerial deliveries
practices are
important, as it
takes very precise
timing to accurately
drop an object into a
confined area such
as a crash site in the
woods.
Because they are
flying at
approximately 200
feet per second,
even a one second
error could cause the drop to miss the target area.
Other challenges are shifting winds, and rugged
terrain or other obstacles such as powerlines or
towers which the pilot must manoeuvre to avoid.
Aerial drops which are performed by the SAR
C-130 include coloured streamers (used to
determine the wind direction), radios (to
communicate with survivors), bundles (packed
with food, survival equipent, medical supplies,
etc.), pumps (for sinking boats that are taking on
water), life rafts (for people in the water), and
finally parachutists (or SARTECHs, who are
equivalent to level 2 paramedics who can
parachute from the aircraft to give medical
assistance and prepare casualties for evacuation to
the nearest hospital by a rescue helicopter or an
ambulance if the site is accessible.
SARTECHs are also trained in mountain
rescue, ice climbing, and diving for underwater
rescue.
Loder, a graduate of Central Huron Secondary
School in Clinton, took aviation at Sault College
in Sault Ste. Mane and obtained a commercial
pilot licence with a multi-engine and instrument
rating. He joined the Airforce in 1997, trained in
Moosejaw on the Tutor Jet, Portage LaPrairie on
the King Air, then went on to Trention, where he’s
been for five years.
On July 28, he leaves on a three-year exchange
posting to Elizabeth City, North Carolina to fly
with the U.S. Coast Guard. ‘They also fly the C-
130, but are mostly involved in marine rescue, ice
patrols in Newfoundland and law enforcement
along their southern border such as drug patrols
and illegal immigration.”
Accompanying him to the States will be his
wife Melissa and their two young sons, Dana,
four and Ashton, two. The couple met while
Loder attended Sault College Aviation.
For more information regarding the squadron,
or on CASARA, which is a volunteer organization
of people trained to search for missing people,
or on the air force, check www.424squadron.
com, www.casara.ca,www.airforce.dnd.ca
orww w.airforce. forces.ca/8wing/squadron/424_e.
asp