General aviation to the rescue, again

From left to right: Peter Brown, Norman Wong, Matt Gacek, Debie Stevenson (accepting on behalf of Kenn Borek Air) and COPA member Sean Loutitt. Missing are Mark Cary and Tony Szekely.
Pictured in the background is the de Havilland Twin Otter used in the Antarctic rescue.

By Kevin Psutka, COPA president and CEO

I am very proud of a recent accomplishment by COPA member Sean Loutitt, who was the captain on the de Havilland Twin Otter that flew to Antarctica and rescued an ailing doctor from the South Pole in April this year. Loutitt is chief pilot at Kenn Borek Air, the Canadian company that supplied the aircraft (two Twin Otters) and crews (four pilots and two engineers) for the rescue.
The rescue of Dr. Ronald Shemenski from the depths of an Antarctic winter marks the first time that flight to the pole has been accomplished in these conditions. Sean Loutitt was assisted by co-pilot Mark Carey and flight engineer Norm Wong. The accompanying back-up aircraft was piloted by Tony Szekely and Matt Gacek, with engineer Pete Brown.
Calgary-based Kenn Borek Air Ltd., specializes in polar air travel and remote-air transportation services. It is under contract to Raytheon Polar Services, which provides services in Antarctica under contract from the U.S. National Science Foundation, headquartered in Washington. Flying to the South Pole was not a new experience for Loutitt, co-pilot Mark Carey or flight engineer Norm Wong. Loutitt himself had made the trip at least seven times. But none of the three had ever traveled there during the polar winter, when weather makes any flight from late February until November extremely hazardous involving temperatures of -56 C, high winds and the darkness of the long polar winter. The two Twin Otters are normally used in and around the North Pole this time of year. They were flown from Canada to Chile in preparation for the flight into Antarctica. The most precarious leg of the rescue effort was the flight from Rothera Base on Antarctica’s coast to the South Pole, some 2,500 kilometres away. The back-up Twin Otter remained on standby at Rothera.
I had the privilege to present Kenn Borek Air with a special Award of Merit while in Calgary on May 17. This is a remarkable example of the value of general aviation and the unique Canadian expertise for conditions that were just too harsh for other aircraft and an airstrip that was not suitable for other aircraft. The Canadian-built Twin Otter and a crew trained for flight in these conditions provided the only option for the ailing doctor.
A similar situation occurred during the Ice Storm of 1998 in Quebec. The city of St. Jean was virtually cut off by fallen power lines and impassible roads. Critical supplies for the local hospital and basic supplies for the residents could not be brought in by any other means than by air. However, the thick ice on the runway at the local airport made it too risky for large aircraft to fly in, the airlines were unable or unwilling to help and the military was stretched to the limit with other priorities, so a group of volunteer pilots with general aviation aircraft assembled in Toronto to fly supplies in. General aviation pilots and aircraft were the only ones able to provide aid to this community in their time of need.
In these days of media and government attention on airline mergers and other changes in the Canadian aviation scene, people sometimes forget that the airlines represent only a fraction of the number of aircraft, pilots and maintainers that connects the vast regions of Canada together and that the much larger general aviation sector contributes significantly to the standard of living that we enjoy. The successful rescue performed by COPA member Sean Loutitt and his crew with a general aviation aircraft should give everyone reason to be proud, as I am, of Canadian general aviation.