reports are that the CH148 Cyclone, carried by HMCS Fredericton has crashed in Italian waters. Both the ship and Helicopter are based in Halifax, and were serving with SNMG2 in the Mediterranean Sea.
Fredericton, along with Italian and Turkish ships are searching the area. Reports are 1 body has been found by the Italian frigate, along with debris, and 5 others are missing.
Updates to follow
UPDATE 1: DND has confirmed the Aircraft is missing, and SAR efforts are under way. the CH-148 was lost in the Ionian Sea. Plane spotters indicate Shearwater advised all cylcones to return to base an hour ago.
UPDATE 19:47: Its currently 00:47 in the Ionian sea, Initial reports were 3 hours ago, so this flight would have happened under night time conditions. Weather forecast is clear,light winds 17 degree temp. half moon, so not totally dark.
UPDATE 00:55: RCAF confirmed via tweet family of all those aboard have been notified. should be coming up on Sunrise in the next hour.
UPDATE 0549: the search continues, with an Italian military ATR flying search patterns.
UPDATE 10:55: The Chronicle Herald has identified sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough from Eastern Passage as the first victim of the Crash through Facebook posts from her parents.
UPDATE:12:20: the ATR Air search ended at 7:55am our time
News Conference – They have the flight recorders, 5 are still missing. Sajjan says that Italy, Greece, the US and Turkey are all helping with the search and rescue effort off the coast of Greece. At 6:52 pm Greece time, HMCS Fredericton lost contact with the helicopter. Soon after, the ship spotted flares that were shot from the water. the voice and data recorders floated away from the helicopters wreckage. “It’s in 3000 M of waters in the Ionian sea”
UPDATE 18:00: Names of the missing have been released.
Additionally, some tweets from the Turkish military on scene.
Search for the Canadian Frigate FREDERICTON helo in Ionian Sea continues since last night. TCG SALIHREIS and Turkish Naval Helo as part of NATO SNMG-2 are continuing search and rescue operations in vicinity of the crash site. https://t.co/odJBXsLbuu
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) April 30, 2020
Our TCG SALİHREİS frigate and helicopter continue to carry out search and rescue operations for the Canadian FREDERICTON frigate’s helicopter and its crew which fell into the Ionian Sea last night. pic.twitter.com/tVfSWDLa94
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) April 30, 2020
As I have done almost every year, this post highlights the key harbor events in 2019. 2019 marks the 11th year of this site, and Saw a full year of Herald Columns, and a huge upgrade to the AIS System. I also did a nautical tour of the uK.
At the beginning of the year i asked “What does 2019 hold? Port expansion, new container ship size records, and the delivery of the HMCS Harry DeWolf to the navy are easy predictions to make – the rest, time will tell.” – Yes, One, not yet – the rest, see below.
I tweeted the above photo of my new setup, and it seemed to be quite popular, so i thought i would post an explanation of the setup.
All vessels over 350grt are required to transmit an ais signal (automatic identification system) over VHF. I have a 8′ VHF antenna mounted on my house connected to an SR-161 AIS receiver. The AIS receiver converts the VHF signal to an NMEA sentence. The NMEA sentence is sent to an old laptop running ShipPlotter which takes the NMEA data, logs it, displays it on screen, and sends the update to marinetraffic.com. (I operate station 347)
the 3 monitor setup is accomplished by running 3 instances of ShipPlotter. The first (the basin display) is a remote session to the PC that is connected to the AIS Receiver. its set to send data to the machine running the 3 monitors, and runs 2 instances of ShipPlotter. those 2 instances listen for output from the first on their own ports. then it was just a matter of adding the proper charts, and choosing the desired zoom level.
A big benefit to the 3 displays is that i now have a clearer view of traffic, and the ships render to scale. for clarity sake, i set the charts to be 75% transparent in ShipPlotter, which preserves readability, but makes the screen less cluttered.
having logged data let me do things like make maps after the fact. I have posted 2 revisions of the traffic map, the full view, and some closeups, as well as a how to post covering how i built it.
This week, haligonians
will collect up their trash and take it to the curb. It’s such a normal
activity, we think nothing of it, and no one really notices the trash
piled at the end of the driveway waiting collection.
Last year in Belgium, 250000kg of unexploded ordnance was dug up by farmers and construction workers just going on with their normal lives. When people find it, they stack it on the side of the road, and call the army to collect it. Since the end of the first world war, its munitions have killed over 300 people.
the remnants of war are common, and normal, just like taking out the trash.
Today the battlefields of Belgium are pastoral. There is little sign of the destruction that the war caused – though its there if you know to look. The town of Ypres in Belgium looks hundreds of years old, though the date on the oldest building is 1922. though the town stayed in Allied hands throughout the war, it was obliterated.
When you visit vimy ridge, the monument is striking. But so is the landscape. The ground is pockmarked with shell holes, one connecting with another, no spot untouched. If you ski, and know what a field of mougles look like – that’s Vimy ridge, though grassy, and now dotted with trees. Fences and signs warning of unexploded shells keep you on the roads.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders Fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders Fields.
Major John McCrae, a field surgeon in the Canadian artillery, in the midst of the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium, in May 1915. He died of pneumonia at Wimereux, France on January 28, 1918.
The Province has released the RFP for the Dry docking of the CSS Acadia. the CSS Acadia was built in 1913, and is 106 years old. The much needed work was announced last December.
The Scope of work includes Sandblasting and repainting the hull, Testing and replacement of Steel less then 1.4″ thick, Replacement of a hatch cover, replacement of a fuel tank, improved access to the engine room, and some restoration and maintenance work.
the ship is to be towed to a shipyard, and when returned, will be docked bow in.
A very light Ocean Force arrived at Fairview Cove this morning, and is due to sail this evening. The ship arrived from a New Jersey Anchorage.
Built in Germany in 1983, the Ship was originally named Condock III. besides being a CON-Ro, capable of taking containers and Ro-ro cargo, the vessel is also semi-submersible, allowing it to transport boats and other floating craft loaded via a full width stern ramp.
the ship is owned and operated by Prime Transport based in the Ukraine.