Vanguard Magazine

8 JUNE/JULY 2020 www.vanguardcanada.com S Sit rEp Canada's CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopter fleet is no longer on opera- tional pause. This was lifted by the Commander of 1 Canadian Air Divi- sion, LGen Alain Pelletier. The fleet was grounded after the fatal crash of a CH-148 Cyclone off the coast of Greece that killed six Canadian Armed Forces members on April 29. The decision to return to flying came after a "thorough risk assess- ment that outlined mitigation measures to ensure aircrews understand the conditions that led to the crash and how to avoid or resolve them," according to a news release. Even though the investigation continues, a Canada's CH-148 Cyclone fleet to return to flying decision was made based on the results of the investigation to date that ruled out any mechanical failure. This conclusion was reached after the investigative team used information primarily from the Cyclone's flight data recorder to replicate the conditions in the CH-148 Cyclone flight simulator. The news release explains: "This revealed that the aircraft's flight di- rector was set to hold a specific altitude and airspeed. Thus, during the complex manoeuvering turn to align with the ship, the pilot's inputs were significantly different from the autopilot settings and the aircraft did not respond in a way that the crew was expecting. The investigative team has confirmed that this rare anomaly only occurred under a very specific and narrow set of circumstances. The crew would have had no previous exposure or experience on how to handle this situation." Given the findings of the detailed risk assessment, the RCAF is imple- menting mitigation measures to update training, publications, and opera- tional maneuvering to decrease the risk to an acceptable level to allow for the resumption of flying operations. LGen Alain Pelletier said that the best way to honour those that were killed is to "get back into operations in a safe and deliberate manner" as they continue to support the Royal Canadian Navy. "I truly appreciate the professional efforts of the Canadian Armed Forc- es airworthiness authorities who have contributed to both the investiga- tion and risk assessment," said LGen Al Meinzinger, Commander of the RCAF. "I have the fullest confidence in their work, the Cyclone fleet, and our ability to safely return the maritime helicopter community to flying operations. We will do so in memory of our fallen." Health Canada certifies CAE Air1 ventilator to fight COVID-19 Health Canada has certified the CAE Air1 ventilator to be used in hospitals in Canada to fight against COVID-19. The certification of this made-in-Canada ventilator, which was designed and manufactured in Montreal, comes two months after the Government of Canada signed a contract with CAE to manufac- ture and supply 10,000 ventilators. "Since the beginning of the pandemic, CAE was the first to receive certification from Health Canada for an entirely new ventilator. It was created and manufactured in Canada, and we are proud that it will help save lives in the fight against COVID-19," said Marc Parent, CAE's President, and CEO. "The agility shown by CAE in designing and succeeding to have the CAE Air1 ventilator certified in a fraction of the usual time is a testament to the strength of CAE's innovation, engineering talent, and advanced manufacturing capabilities. I am proud of our team for rising to this humanitarian challenge and strengthening Canada's self-sufficiency in the medi- cal field during these unprecedented times." The CAE Air1 ventilator has over 500 parts and delivers pressure control, volume control, and pres- sure support ventilation using room air or pres- sured oxygen. According to the release, it uses an intuitive, simple touchscreen interface and is bundled with on-demand ventilator training, adap- tive e-learning modules related to COVID-19 patient management, and 24/7 customer support. It will be used to support Intensive Care Units patients treated for COVID-19. "CAE, one of Canada's leading aerospace firms, stepped up early on with their commitment to pro- duce a made-in-Canada ventilator design that will help save the lives of COVID-19 patients battling the disease," said Navdeep Bains, Canada's Minis- ter of Innovation, Science, and Industry. "Today's announcement is a testament to CAE's agility and innovative capability. I am glad that we were able to support CAE in accelerating the design and manu- facturing of CAE Air1 ventilator that is now ready to be used by our frontline healthcare workers." CAE will commence shipping hundreds of ventila- tors to the Government of Canada every week. HMCS REGINA's CH-148 Helicopter BRONCO conducts training on the brownie manoeuvre at sunset during Operation PROJECTION / EXERCISE TALISMAN SABRE in the Pacific Ocean on July 16th 2019. Photo: DND Image: CAE

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