AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, congratulates the crew of the Canadian Forces 442 Search and Rescue Squadron, based at CFB Comox, on winning the 2009 Cormorant Trophy for the skilful night rescue of a skier who had fallen 30 m down a crevasse on Hamathko Glacier, 8700 ft above sea level. The award was made at the annual SAREX event and the decision was unanimous amongst all the judges, both civil and military as it demonstrated again, the exceptional heroism of the crews who carry out this type of duty regularly.

The crew from 442 Sqn in Comox who conducted the Hamathko Glacier rescue were Aircraft Commander (AC) Major J.M. von Kruse, First Officer (FO) LCol J.E.C. Lalande, Sqn Commander Flight Engineer (FE) Cpl BRD Frenette, SAR Tech Team Lead (TL) Sgt KJ Gulliford and SAR Tech Team Member (TM) MCpl WR Ternes.

“The crew demonstrated remarkable levels of skill, team work and courage that night,” said Graham Cole, Managing Director, AgustaWestland. “While SAR crews train for many different rescue scenarios that may challenge their capabilities, this rescue presented circumstances where only the very best airmanship, courage and team work resulted in a successful outcome. On behalf of everyone at AgustaWestland I congratulate the crew on winning the 2009 Cormorant Trophy.” The Cormorant Trophy is awarded annually to the crew of the Canadian Search and Rescue aircraft that carried out the most significant rescue of the year.

source: Agusta Westland