W5 Sunday (2nd)

[PaperTiger]

Before I forget. W5 this coming Sunday will air a segment on the Borek Antarctic rescue. Just saw a brief trailer - includes footage at the pole.

[OnTheStep]

incidentally, the host, tom clark is a pilot himself. last time i talked to him, he owned an aztec on floats. amicable bloke as well.

[bearcat88]

I missed it while on the road. How was it?

[PaperTiger]

We'll let you know after it airs on Sunday next :D

[penguin]

Where's Tom based?

[Otterman]

Like so many of my generation I had to leave Canada about fifteen years back in order to further my career. I flew for Kenn Borek for almost two years, out of Inuvik and Resolute Bay (got my start with them). Fond memories. Took my nickname from my time on the Twin Otter. I was able to watch the W5 piece through the CTV news website. Little bit too much American production value, but was nice to see Canada doing right. Sending you all the best from Europe.

[Rockhound]

All in all, I thought the programme was well done and full marks to CTV for airing it in the first place - high time an all-Canadian feat was given some American-style puffery.
One question I've had for some time went unanswered. Why wasn't a relief crew of two pilots aboard for the flight to the pole. who could have handled the return trip after a fast turnaround, while the outbound crew rested? I'm sure this plan was considered but why was it not implemented?
Rockhound

[PaperTiger]

re:Relief crew

You could email Borek and ask them, but I imagine there was not enough room/payload capacity. For a 10-hour flight the Twotter would need a lot of auxiliary tankage (I think it was visible in some shots), and two extra pax for a total of 6 onboard probably not do-able.

BTW I particularly enjoyed the shot of the USAF type - "We are the only ones..." blah, blah. Tee-hee :D

[OnTheStep]

Where's Tom based?

can't give a difinitive answer, haven't seen him around in some time. i have seen a couple of those amphib aztrucks busting around the muskokas on several weekends during the season

if not on the muskokas that probably sturgeon or scugog

[pigboat]

Great program. I was under the impression they'd gone Rothera - Pole - Rothera on straight skis instead of w/skis.
PT, you're right about the weight penalty of an extra crew, plus the extra crew would also have been on duty for a like amount of time. The aircraft had the ferry tanks installed, so there wasn't all that much room in the cabin either for four pax.

[Rockhound]

PT and Pigboat,
You may be right about the weight penalty incurred by taking two extra pilots and their survival gear but this would be well under 500 lbs and the aircraft was refuelled at the pole, so I'm not entirely convinced. This was an extraordinary mission and normal rules clearly were bent, viz. the freeing of the frozen flaps at the pole, which was glossed over in the programme. I doubt if there was a DoT type at Rothera checking the TOW.
I certainly don't follow Pigboat's reasoning that the relief crew would be considered to be on duty on the poleward leg. They would have been mere passengers, free to sleep the whole way.
Isn't anyone at Borek a PPruner, who could settle this argument?
Rockhound

[Smurfjet]

Otterman, got that link from the CTV website?

I'll be looking :)

[Otterman]

Smurfjet, the link is http://www.ctvnews.com/index.html
and then click on the W5 banner it will give you the option of viewing several different stories among them the Borek piece.
greetings, otterman.

[francine]

Hi - I just caught the second half of the repeat. Can anyone explain how "cutting the flap lines" helped to free them?

I'd love to see FlightPATH do an episode on this - they always give 15 minutes to cover tech issues!

Cheers

[JoeCo]

Any idea how to download and watch instead of having to buffer and watch in the tiny viewer?

I'd really like to keep this as a file to watch again at a later date.

Thanks

[ipanema]

To download try right-clicking on the link to the movie.

If that does not work, run the movie completely and then (without closing it) look through the temporary folders for a file with the same extension (.mpg, .avi, .rm, whatever) and Copy/Paste it/them and save to different name/s (in English, that you understand)... you may find several, and because they are temporary files they will have code or garbage names (not English).

(When you close the movie, the file in the temporary folder is deleted.)

If the file is really being properly streamed you may not have a file in a temporary folder at all... because it is going direct to the screen.

Suggestion: Temporary folders can be in all kinds of places... so to find possible candidates for the movie use your Search tool and put "*.mpg" or "*.avi" (or whatever extension the movie is, _without_ the quotes) in the search field.

[ 30 December 2001: Message edited by: ipanema ]</p>

[Muzungu]

Borek is operating under the Canadian Air Reg's (CAR's) they could not have brought a relef crew on board as there would have to have been an approved crew rest facility on board to do what amounts to a 20 hour day. i don't think there is a TWotter in the world
other then Max Wards that has a luxurios cabin let alone two rest bunks.

For a/c duty times over twelve hours the opoerator has to install bunks.

[JoeCo]

ipanema,

Thanks for that! I will try your suggestions and see what happens.

I had even emailed CTV's technical help, but they must be WAY too busy to answer a stupid question like mine!!?? It's only been a week now and still no reply.

Thank Again Amigo

[Rockhound]

Muzungu,
I'm sure you're right about the lack of proper on-board rest facilities prohibiting the carrying of a relief crew on that Twin - IF you go by the book. However, I maintain that this medevac was an extraordinary mission on which the rules and regs could be (and, I'm sure, were) bent. I've been involved (as a pax, mind you) with bush flying in the Arctic for nearly 40 years and if we went by the book every time, we wouldn't get half the work done.
Happy New Year!
Rockhound

[Woomera]

What can I say, an awesome effort and I really enjoyed the video.