Cyclone comes ashore

Rare Canadian CH-148 visits The Netherlands

During April, a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CH-148 “Cyclone” visited The Netherlands for two weeks. For this region, this seldom seen helicopter came over from a Canadian navy vessel which had a port call for a crew swap and scheduled maintenance. The ideal location for this Canadian frigate HMCS Halifax, was found in Den Helder, a seaside town with a large military port for the Dutch “Koninklijke Marine” (Royal Navy) and nearby “Marine Vlieg Kamp” (Naval Air Station) De Kooij.

HELAIRDET

The HMCS Halifax (FFH 330) is flagship for Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1), fulfilling NATO tasks in the Baltic Sea region and participates in multinational training exercises in northwest Europe. The frigate carries one CH148 assigned to HELAIRDET (Helicopter Air Detachment) during the stay onboard. The Cyclone’s home base is 12 Wing Shearwater Air Base, Nova Scotia, where it is assigned to 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron. The CH-148 is the military variant of the Sikorsky S-92 and designed for shipboard operations. For Canada, it replaced the CH-124 Sea King and was chosen to become the main ship-borne maritime helicopter providing air support to the Royal Canadian Navy. The Cyclone is capable to execute a variety of missions such as Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Search & Rescue (SAR), surface and sub-surface surveillance, tactical transport and marines Special Operation Forces (SOF) support.

On Dutch soil

The visit to the Netherlands started early morning of 12 April, when the CH-148 lifted of the Halifax rear deck, shortly before the frigate entered the military port of Den Helder. By coming ashore, the Cyclone flight crew was able to continue their training flight operations, while the Halifax received its maintenance at port. In the two weeks, ship pause a RCAF CC-150 “Polaris” flew to Royal Netherlands Air Force Base

Eindhoven to pick up the Halifax ship crew and bring in a complete new crew. In parallel to the Polaris flight, a CC-177 “Globemaster II” executed a logistic flight, carrying essential equipment and materials.

NAS De Kooij

Arriving at NAS De Kooij, the CH-148 met its Dutch military naval rotor counterpart, called 860 squadron. The Dutch unit flies the Airbus NH-90NFH (NATO Frigate Helicopter) since 2010 when it succeeded the aged SH-14D “Lynx” helicopter. The navy had ordered 20 NH- 90s for the Dutch Helicopter Command ( DHC) and deliveries were completed in 2015. Last year, 860 squadron lost one of its NH- 90s in an incident when detached in the Caribbean. Tragically, 2 of the 4 crew members did not survive the crash into the sea. Sad coincidence was that the RCAF 423 squadron also lost one if its Cyclones in 2020, while detached to the HELAIRDET at HMCS Fredericton during a NATO Reassurance operation in

the Mediterranean, “Stalker22” crashed in the Ionian Sea, 220 NM east of Catania, Italy. The CH-148 was in a final complex manoeuvring turn close to the ship, where the aircraft did not respond as the crew would have anticipated. While at low altitude, the Cyclone became unrecoverable, entered a high energy descent and impacted the water astern the ship. The CH-148 was destroyed and all six occupants deceased.

With an approximate runway length of 4100 feet, NAS DE Kooij is mainly used for helicopter aviation. Next to the based military 860 squadron, NAS DE Kooij is also host for a civil aviation under the name of “Den Helder Airport”, serving as hub station for the offshore industry. The main civilian operators are currently CHC Helicopters, a Dutch company with several red-white-blue coloured Leonardo AW-139’s, Bel Air with a mix of Danish registered AW-139 and AW-189 helicopters and finally the Belgian company NHV with some AW-139s, all active for the North Sea offshore industry. NHV is also present at De Kooij with 2 Airbus AS-365N3 “Dauphin” helicopters, contracted for 24/ 7 Search And Rescue duties under Dutch Coast Guard command. Under the same contract, another 2 Dauphins can be found near the port of Rotterdam, to cover the complete Dutch North Sea coastal lines.

Continued training

During the two weeks stay, the RCAF CH148 regularly flew its day and night missions that included VFR and IFR navigation flights leading to the east and southern parts of The Netherlands. The majority of flights were executed with a crew of 3, first being the pilot then co-pilot and an Air Combat Systems Officer (ACSO) serving as Tactical Coordinator (TaCo). Sea based flight operations were executed with a four member crew, the Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator (AES OP) in control of the Cyclone’s sensors such as radar and sonar. Additionally, the Cyclone executed local training at NAS DE Kooij, making use of some elevated slopes to practice terrain landings. The CH-148 crew also made use of the Naval Air Stations’ dummy ship deck facility where it simulated deck landings with the use of a signal officer as well as practicing hoist operations. By 29 April, the Cyclone took off for the final time from NAS De Kooij and flew towards the sea where it reunited with the HMCS frigate Halifax, which had left the port of Den Helder at an earlier stage. Later that day, a memorial took place onboard of HMCS Halifax to commemorate the crash of “Stalker22” which happened exactly a year ago.