Check.
Apparently I am at least still fit to fly.
This week I'll set up my MIFR renewal (mind you, not the best time of year to try and do that in a plane without icing certification, might take a while to find an hour here and there...ugh, wish I could just get a cheap mu2 to do it in..at least that way I'd know the damn plane), and then on the 13th I'll start the helicopter stuff.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
I wish I never had to post these....
http://www.canada.com/news/hope+finding+crash+survivors+Officials/1385614/story.html
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Search-and-rescue officials on Friday virtually abandoned hope of finding more survivors from the helicopter that ditched in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland Thursday.
Crews looking for the 16 missing passengers were to end their search Friday evening. They were going to search until "last light," said Maj. Denis McGuire, a spokesman for the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in St. John's.
"The likelihood they'll be found alive is no longer there."
McGuire said the search will end at 7:30 p.m. local time and the case was be turned over to the RCMP and the Transportation Safety Board as a missing persons case.
"Obviously, the families are distraught," he said. "We've gone past the 24-hour life expectancy in the survival suits."
The lone survivor, identified as Robert Decker, of St. John's, was pulled from the water where the Sikorsky S-92 went down some 55 kilometres east of St. John's, about 45 minutes after the crash. He remains in hospital in St. John's in critical, but stable condition with salt in his lungs, a broken bone and hypothermia.
Late Friday, there was word his condition had started to improve, however.
Searchers have recovered the body of a young woman, who has not been named, but 16 other people were still unaccounted for.
In Cape Broyle, south of St. John's, Mayor Donny Graham took the loss hard.
He said he knew the woman. "Yes, I knew her. She was 25," he told Global News.
As the long day dragged on, residents of Cape Broyle and other tiny fishing communities south of St. John's continued to pray for a miracle.
"You don't know what to be doing. There's nothing yet. They're still just searching," said Anita Armstrong, 62, who lives in Witless Bay. "Everybody's just holding on to hope. It's just unbelievable. Everybody's in shock yet."
Armstrong said one of the men on the helicopter is from her town, while another still missing lives in Bay Bulls, about five kilometres to the north.
Transportation Safety Board officials plan to send two remote-operated vehicles 120 metres down to the ocean floor Saturday to get a look at the remains of the helicopter that carried 18 people.
TSB spokesman Mike Cunningham said crews will also look at the possibility of raising the helicopter with balloons or a crane.
"This is all the part of what we have to assess," he said. "Put it this way: if there is any way to get it out of there, we'll be getting it out of there."
Officials said they hope the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder will tell them what went so horribly wrong Thursday.
The TSB says vessels have begun to collect surface debris from the Cougar Helicopters aircraft, which had been on its way to two drill platforms approximately 300 kilometres east of St. John's when its main gear box reportedly lost oil pressure.
Rev. Pat Power, who ministers to parishioners in Bay Bulls and Witless Bay, said he knows many of the families who had friends and relatives on the downed helicopter, but was waiting for the RCMP to officially release the names.
"I think people are trying to go about their daily business, but there's an overhanging kind of a grief to it," Power said Friday.
"They realize that something very terrible has happened, and they're still listening to the radio and keeping an eye on the television and the Internet and whatever, and just being aware of what's going on. We realize there's been a great tragedy here, and it's part of our Newfoundland psyche, too, I think. These things will happen. People will get lost at sea, but still there's a sense of grief. There's loss and sorrow there."
McGuire added he "had no idea" how Decker managed to escape the helicopter.
Nor could he say why the search teams didn't receive any locator beacon signals from the survival suits the 16 passengers and two crew members aboard the chopper would have been wearing and which can keep a person alive in the frigid ocean for about 24 hours.
He also acknowledged military response times were delayed Thursday because crews were on a training exercise.
"Our Cormorant helicopters are currently stationed in Gander, (N.L.) but they were in Sydney, (N.S.), conducting a combined exercise with 413 Search and Rescue Squadron from Greenwood, N.S.," McGuire said. "I'm satisfied the persons of Newfoundland and Labrador had continued coverage for search-and-rescue. The aircraft were on SARS (search-and-rescue) standby for this region but they were doing it out of Sydney at the time."
Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams cautioned against pointing fingers.
"There's a very strong likelihood that no matter what, the coast guard could not have made a difference here."
McGuire also issued a correction to times previously released for when the helicopter went down.
He told members of the media Friday, the times were off by 30 minutes. The correct time the mayday call was sent was 9:40 a.m. Thursday local time, and the pilot ditched the helicopter at about 9:48 a.m. local time.
On Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board out of Washington, D.C., said it also would join the Canadian search effort.
A news release said the U.S. team will include technical advisers from the Federal Aviation Administration and Sikorsky.
Cougar Helicopters — the company contracted to transport workers to and from Newfoundland's offshore oilfields — said the chopper pilots reported technical difficulties Thursday morning and indicated they were returning to St. John's. Shortly after, the helicopter ditched in the sea.
According to a Transport Canada aviation database, the pilot of the Cougar Helicopter's Sikorsky declared a mayday due to a main gear box oil pressure problem.
Transport Canada described the information as preliminary, unconfirmed data which is subject to change.
With files from St. John's Telegram
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Search-and-rescue officials on Friday virtually abandoned hope of finding more survivors from the helicopter that ditched in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland Thursday.
Crews looking for the 16 missing passengers were to end their search Friday evening. They were going to search until "last light," said Maj. Denis McGuire, a spokesman for the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in St. John's.
"The likelihood they'll be found alive is no longer there."
McGuire said the search will end at 7:30 p.m. local time and the case was be turned over to the RCMP and the Transportation Safety Board as a missing persons case.
"Obviously, the families are distraught," he said. "We've gone past the 24-hour life expectancy in the survival suits."
The lone survivor, identified as Robert Decker, of St. John's, was pulled from the water where the Sikorsky S-92 went down some 55 kilometres east of St. John's, about 45 minutes after the crash. He remains in hospital in St. John's in critical, but stable condition with salt in his lungs, a broken bone and hypothermia.
Late Friday, there was word his condition had started to improve, however.
Searchers have recovered the body of a young woman, who has not been named, but 16 other people were still unaccounted for.
In Cape Broyle, south of St. John's, Mayor Donny Graham took the loss hard.
He said he knew the woman. "Yes, I knew her. She was 25," he told Global News.
As the long day dragged on, residents of Cape Broyle and other tiny fishing communities south of St. John's continued to pray for a miracle.
"You don't know what to be doing. There's nothing yet. They're still just searching," said Anita Armstrong, 62, who lives in Witless Bay. "Everybody's just holding on to hope. It's just unbelievable. Everybody's in shock yet."
Armstrong said one of the men on the helicopter is from her town, while another still missing lives in Bay Bulls, about five kilometres to the north.
Transportation Safety Board officials plan to send two remote-operated vehicles 120 metres down to the ocean floor Saturday to get a look at the remains of the helicopter that carried 18 people.
TSB spokesman Mike Cunningham said crews will also look at the possibility of raising the helicopter with balloons or a crane.
"This is all the part of what we have to assess," he said. "Put it this way: if there is any way to get it out of there, we'll be getting it out of there."
Officials said they hope the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder will tell them what went so horribly wrong Thursday.
The TSB says vessels have begun to collect surface debris from the Cougar Helicopters aircraft, which had been on its way to two drill platforms approximately 300 kilometres east of St. John's when its main gear box reportedly lost oil pressure.
Rev. Pat Power, who ministers to parishioners in Bay Bulls and Witless Bay, said he knows many of the families who had friends and relatives on the downed helicopter, but was waiting for the RCMP to officially release the names.
"I think people are trying to go about their daily business, but there's an overhanging kind of a grief to it," Power said Friday.
"They realize that something very terrible has happened, and they're still listening to the radio and keeping an eye on the television and the Internet and whatever, and just being aware of what's going on. We realize there's been a great tragedy here, and it's part of our Newfoundland psyche, too, I think. These things will happen. People will get lost at sea, but still there's a sense of grief. There's loss and sorrow there."
McGuire added he "had no idea" how Decker managed to escape the helicopter.
Nor could he say why the search teams didn't receive any locator beacon signals from the survival suits the 16 passengers and two crew members aboard the chopper would have been wearing and which can keep a person alive in the frigid ocean for about 24 hours.
He also acknowledged military response times were delayed Thursday because crews were on a training exercise.
"Our Cormorant helicopters are currently stationed in Gander, (N.L.) but they were in Sydney, (N.S.), conducting a combined exercise with 413 Search and Rescue Squadron from Greenwood, N.S.," McGuire said. "I'm satisfied the persons of Newfoundland and Labrador had continued coverage for search-and-rescue. The aircraft were on SARS (search-and-rescue) standby for this region but they were doing it out of Sydney at the time."
Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams cautioned against pointing fingers.
"There's a very strong likelihood that no matter what, the coast guard could not have made a difference here."
McGuire also issued a correction to times previously released for when the helicopter went down.
He told members of the media Friday, the times were off by 30 minutes. The correct time the mayday call was sent was 9:40 a.m. Thursday local time, and the pilot ditched the helicopter at about 9:48 a.m. local time.
On Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board out of Washington, D.C., said it also would join the Canadian search effort.
A news release said the U.S. team will include technical advisers from the Federal Aviation Administration and Sikorsky.
Cougar Helicopters — the company contracted to transport workers to and from Newfoundland's offshore oilfields — said the chopper pilots reported technical difficulties Thursday morning and indicated they were returning to St. John's. Shortly after, the helicopter ditched in the sea.
According to a Transport Canada aviation database, the pilot of the Cougar Helicopter's Sikorsky declared a mayday due to a main gear box oil pressure problem.
Transport Canada described the information as preliminary, unconfirmed data which is subject to change.
With files from St. John's Telegram
Almost time....
Medical booked March 25.
Followed by my IFR renewal fixed wing. It was a suggestion of the helicopter people that I renew that way, it's easier I guess. Once I have that back I just need 5 hours for helicopter instruments.
Start fling wing April 13.
I can't wait to get started.
Oh, and went flying on the weekend. A friend came to town with his Cherokee and let me get a bit of stick time. It was so great to get back in the air again.
And shocking enough, I can still fly. :D
Followed by my IFR renewal fixed wing. It was a suggestion of the helicopter people that I renew that way, it's easier I guess. Once I have that back I just need 5 hours for helicopter instruments.
Start fling wing April 13.
I can't wait to get started.
Oh, and went flying on the weekend. A friend came to town with his Cherokee and let me get a bit of stick time. It was so great to get back in the air again.
And shocking enough, I can still fly. :D
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