Sea Kings like Energizer Bunnies as they keep flying in face of parts hurdles
Published Wednesday December 3rd, 2008
EASTERN PASSAGE, N.S. - Military air crew fondly call Canada's aged Sea King maritime helicopters Energizer Bunnies, comparing them to the pink marketing icon with batteries that keep flowing against expected odds and time limits.
"They keep going and going and going," says Lt.-Col. Sam Michaud, commander of the Shearwater, N.S., air base that has been flying the Sikorsky choppers since 1963.
However, the real world of aged and hard-to-replace parts is starting to creep up on the aircraft that Michaud refers to as his "classic truck" of naval aviation.
"You never know with an aircraft of this age when you might have an issue with a part. ... You find you have to go look for a new source for them. That takes time and it comes at a price, and we can't predict when we're going to find it," he said in an interview in his office.
"That's the real issue for us right now."
The retirement of the Sea Kings has been delayed for more than a decade and now, the helicopters are being carefully probed and inspected to see if they can last through yet another two-year waiting period for a replacement.
In Ottawa, the Public Works Department and Industry Canada are attempting to renegotiate a contract for the arrival of modern replacements, which were originally chosen by the former Liberal government in 2004 and promised for delivery by the end of November.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay has called the situation "the worst procurement debacle" in Canada's defence history, and has noted that changes in the new Cyclone aircraft mean replacements aren't due until the middle of 2010.
Michaud said the Sea Kings can last, citing an "extended life" study of the aircraft that will keep it going to 2012. Engineers have started yet another study into the 46-year-old helicopters, he said, checking component by component to see if they can safely keep the helicopter flying beyond 2012.
Over the past decade, Michaud said the military rebuilt engines and gearboxes, replaced windshield wipers, added night vision goggles, and made a host of other changes to the helicopters. Every moving part has been replaced several times, and the interior is a patchwork of parts that date over four decades.
A "centre section" project saw the middle of the aircraft sliced out and replaced.
"They literally cut three metres out of the section of the aircraft, like a magic trick where they cut the woman in half. They threw out the middle piece and rebuilt it," said Michaud, 40, who trains on the helicopters when he's not managing the 290 staff on the base near Halifax.
But serious problems remain in a helicopter fleet that has fallen from its original 43 to 27 operating aircraft due to accidents and attrition.
Though there hasn't been a fatal crash since two pilots died in 1994, there have been flameouts, engine stalls and gearbox failures in the past decade.
On Nov. 12, a military flight safety investigation into a Sea King helicopter's crash off the coast of Denmark on Feb. 2, 2006, revealed that a lack of serviceable helicopters and seaworthy ships had resulted in pilots being poorly trained for night deck landings.
"It became the norm for pilots to achieve only the absolute minimum levels of (training) currency," said the investigators.
That was two years ago, said Michaud, pulling out a two-page list of statistics he's prepared indicating improvements in training levels since then.
Pilots' average training levels plummeted from 230 hours per year in 2001 to a 2005 low of 138 hours. Since then, the training time has recovered to 186 hours a year on average.
Meanwhile, the number of hours of maintenance has fallen from 25.5 hours for every hour flown in 2000 to last year's level of 20 hours of maintenance for every hour flown.
Still, demand for the helicopters and crew clearly outweigh their supply.
Documents obtained under the Access to Information Act indicate that for 2007-08, bases on both coasts simply couldn't meet the flying hours requested by the military.
A planning document from Ottawa asks the helicopter bases to provide a total of 12,000 hours of flying and 12 helicopter air crews dedicated to various tasks - levels that had been common in the 1990s.
Instead, the document notes that due to "constraints," such as fuel costs and "maintenance intensity and parts," the bases could only offer 7,600 hours and nine detachments.
Asked about that shortfall, Michaud argues it's mainly because he has had to reassign staff to prepare for the arrival of the new Cyclones.
"The quality of what we're producing is ever bit as high, just the quantity is reduced," he said.
Across the base in a small briefing room, veteran pilots liken their Sea Kings to a classic sports car.
"It's like having your 1966 Corvette. You're driving on Sunday and all week you're maintaining it," said Capt. Mario Charron.
The standards officer said the machine can't remotely keep up to modern competition in warfare.
"The Sea King is meant to attack submarines, but in the state it is now, it's really hard because you don't have the technology to go against them," he said.
And while Michaud declares base morale is high about the arrival of the high-tech replacements - complete with modern sub-fighting technology and simulators for training - the veteran pilots are wary of any premature celebrations.
They remember 1993, when former prime minister Jean Chretien cancelled the $4.8-billion purchase of 43 high-tech EH-101s shortly after taking office.
"The way the community has dealt with this is we'll believe it when we see it," said Maj. Jason Roman after his latest annual proficiency check.
"We'll continue training and operating on the Sea King until the new helicopter shows up."
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