By Chris Thatcher | June 21, 2021 Estimated reading time 3 minutes, 22 seconds.
If you are driving the highways between Edmonton and eastern Ontario this week, don’t be alarmed if a CH-147F Chinook pulls up alongside you. It won’t be conducting low level flying across the prairies. Rather, it will be on the flatbed of a truck heading for Petawawa, Ontario.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CH-147F helicopter was damaged following a hard landing during Exercise Maple Resolve in Wainwright, Alberta, in early May. The annual training event is the Canadian Army’s largest live exercise, confirming units of a Canadian brigade group ready for global deployment.
This year, aircrews and Chinooks from 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Petawawa joined with crews and CH-146 Griffons from 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Edmonton to support 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG) with a tactical aviation detachment — during the complex 10-day exercise that sprawls across the Wainwright training area.
As the Army’s high readiness brigade as of July 1, 1 CMBG will deploy personnel and equipment to operations in Latvia, Ukraine, Iraq, and elsewhere as required.
The Air Force would not provide any details about the hard landing, as a flight safety investigation is underway.
“No additional details about the incident itself can be provided to ensure the integrity of the investigative process is maintained,” 1 Canadian Air Division said in a statement.
The Chinook was transported from Wainwright to Edmonton after the event, and will begin the seven-day cross-country road move to eastern Ontario on June 21. The route includes Highway 14 from Edmonton to the Saskatchewan border, Hwy 40, Hwy 21, and Hwy 14 to Saskatoon; Hwy 16 to Hwy 1 in Manitoba through Winnipeg to the Ontario border; and Hwy 17 to Renfrew County Road 55, which leads into Canadian Forces Base Petawawa.
Due to the oversized load, the Air Force is advising motorists “to be mindful of the specially-equipped tractor trailer when passing and to follow traffic control direction as applicable.”
Hi Chris–The Eagle has landed.