Still waiting for the blizzard to hit, supposed to be this morning now. In the absence of the blizzard yesterday we basking in wind chills from -41 to a high of -27. High of -27 sounds a bit oxymoronish.


I am still anguishing [I guess that's the right word] over the DND internal response to the Burton Winters tragedy.

Reading the report the timelines are helpful but I can also understand why people are saying it is passing the buck to other authorities.
Seems like too many levels to go through and the protocols are a mishmass before it gets to the responsible authority.  Something like four provincial then at least two federal.

People on the ground closer to the event are also not buying into the weather limitations listed in the report.

Most definitely changes are needed and fast. It is troubling that between the full SAR unit in Gander and the auxiliary unit in Goose Bay only two choppers out of a possible five were available during the incident time frame. I say a possible five choppers because the report says 444 had one chopper down long term and one chopper needed maintenance after pre-flight check. Yet the 444 page states that 444 has three choppers. This just adds to the confusion.

It seems apparent that the public needs to see a provincial incident report as well as the DND report. After all most of the authoritative channels that need negotiating are at the provincial level.

The Burton Winters Facebook site membership is approaching 11.500 members. They are from all over the world.
The site co coordinators are doing a great job in managing the site, trying to keep the focus on the aim of initiating changes and modernization to the SAR efforts in Atlantic Canada.