CASARA Winnipeg responds to requests from the Canadian Forces Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre, and from provincial RCMP. We fly privately owned or rented airplanes, mostly Cessna 172s or 182s, on searches. We also sometimes place spotters on the CF CC-130 Hercules aircraft. On the Herc, we can deploy on searches anywhere in the Trenton Search and Rescue Region. We have had spotters in the Hercs on searches in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, the North West Territories, and Nunavut.
CASARA Winnipeg also carries out flying exercises about twice a month to practise search skills. We have regular exercises to find emergency locator transmitters (ELTs), missing people, and airplanes, as different skills are needed for each search object. We hold regular ground training sessions as well.
Part of CASARA’s mandate is the promotion of aviation safety. We host an annual pilots’ refresher session that is open to the aviation community. We participate in open houses and fly-ins within our zone, where we demonstrate signalling methods and other survival techniques. We offer a winter survival course in co-operation with the Manitoba Aviation Council.
We are actively seeking new members. You do not have to have a pilot's licence to participate in CASARA. For more information about CASARA Winnipeg, please contact the zone commander at casara@mts.net
