Buffalo tempest rather overdone

First there was this in the Globe and Mail:

The Canadian military has been warned internally that there's no guarantee the aging search-and-rescue planes it uses to patrol the West Coast and B.C. mountains will be able to keep running until 2015, the date for replacement aircraft recently unveiled by the Harper government.

The former Liberal government earmarked $1.3-billion in the 2004 budget to buy new search-and-rescue planes for Canada as early as January, 2009 [the budget actually called for first delivery no later than September 2005!], but they didn't move ahead with it and neither has the Harper government.

Instead, the Conservatives have so far focused military equipment spending on items that are useful for the war in Afghanistan, such as the $3.4-billion paid [no! those billions have not been "paid", they're life-cycle costs not the flyaway price] for gigantic C-17 cargo-lifter planes last year [oh! that nasty Afghan war].

In the meantime, Canada's aging search and rescue planes, such as the 41-year-old CC-115 Buffalos that patrol British Columbia and Yukon coastlines and mountains, have been plagued by breakdowns, a shortage of parts and frequent downtime for repairs.

In mid-May, the Tories released a blueprint for future military equipment purchases, setting 2015 as the year they plan to have new Canadian search and rescue planes in service. The Buffalo planes will be 48 years old by then.

But an exploratory review of extending the lifespan of the CC-115 Buffalos, that reported between April, 2006, and April, 2007, warned the Department that the ability to keep supplying and repairing the aircraft is uncertain. "Support for the Buffalo is very precarious," the report said of the plane, a variant of the de Havilland DHC-5.

"Although we currently have support for all systems, nothing guarantees DND that current suppliers and refit & overhaul contractors will remain faithful until 2015," the Department was warned in the document, obtained under the Access to Information Act.

"With a very limited number of DHC-5 aircraft still flying in the world, Buffalo-related support is a dying business and companies will not hesitate to withdraw when a more lucrative opportunity comes along."..

I suspect those writing the report were being a) cautiously prudent and, b) trying to push along the case for a new fixed-wing SAR aircraft.

Then the Globe did provide a bit more context:

VICTORIA, OTTAWA — It's noisy and handles like a bus. It breaks down often and replacement parts are scarce. But once the aging CC-115 Buffalo is up in the air, the search-and-rescue pilots who fly it are trusting and loyal.

"If you have a '67 Mustang, you know you need to give it some TLC," Captain John Edwards, a veteran search-and-rescue pilot said yesterday.

Capt. Edwards, now the air co-ordinator at the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria, has logged four years as a Buffalo pilot.

"The only thing we have ever called it is the bus," he said...

"There's no question it takes a lot of effort to keep a 41-year-old plane operable," he said. "But when called up, the plane seems to do its task."

In the House of Commons yesterday [May 26], Defence Minister Peter MacKay was fending off opposition attacks over the warnings the Buffalos may not last until 2015 - the date when replacements have been promised by the Harper government.

Mr. MacKay insisted safety will not be jeopardized and that Hercules planes and Cormorant helicopters are also available for duty. He said he's having a difficult time finding a new plane that matches the Buffalo's unique ability to slowly float through British Columbia's mountainous skies.

"It's a very specialized aircraft, and for that reason, we're having difficulty determining what the proper replacement would be, but we're well down the road on making that decision and it'll be made soon [emphasis added, I wonder how soon "soon" is]," Mr. MacKay told reporters.

It's interesting that neither Globe story mentioned an important fact, reported by David Pugliese in the Ottawa Citizen two weeks before the first Globe piece (and why didn't MND MacKay mention it?]:

...
The Defence Department will proceed with what it is calling the "Buffalo Avionics Life Extension -- Lite," which will upgrade various systems on the planes. Some of the instruments now in the Buffalo do not conform to current civilian aviation standards, potentially limiting where the planes can fly in civilian airspace, pilots have said.

The Defence Department expects to have the first upgraded aircraft ready by January of next year.

The estimated cost of the project is $4.6 million, defence spokeswoman Krista Hannivan wrote in an e-mail. "Proven off-the-shelf technologies are being purchased through Field Aviation, of Calgary -- the prime component contractor for the CC-115 -- and integrated into the fleet," she added.

The upgrade will replace outdated aircraft electronic equipment and bring the Buffalo in line with modern aviation electronics standards to take the aircraft to 2015, the e-mail noted. The project will include new radios, instrument landing system receivers, emergency locator transmitters and flight data recorders, among other equipment...

Now some more interesting background is published in the Victoria Times Colonist; what do think the odds are that the Globe will notice?

It is wrong to suggest that the Buffalo aircraft -- known as the CC-115 in military service and DHC-5 in civilian use -- is an "orphan" with no "ready supply of spare parts," as has been suggested in the Times Colonist. Viking Air Ltd. will not let that happen.

Viking, which is located at Victoria International Airport, is the Transport Canada-approved design owner (known as a type certificate) for the Buffalo and is responsible for worldwide support of the aircraft.

Viking Air Ltd. takes this responsibility very seriously. Viking did not acquire the DHC-1 through DHC-7 (which includes the Buffalo) type certificates and production rights from Bombardier in 2006 simply to abandon them and their owner/operators.

In fact, the service and support of these aircraft is the primary business focus of Viking and our almost 300 employees. Viking and our support partner Field Aviation of Calgary are committed to supporting the Buffalo fleet and working with the Department of National Defence in building a sustainment model to ensure that the Buffalo aircraft meets the current and anticipated needs of our Armed Forces in a safe and effective manner...

Of the aircraft types designed in the '60s, the Buffalo is one of the few that can continue in service without having to undergo a major (and massively costly) rebuild/replacement of fuselage or wings in order to remain structurally viable.

According to our records, more than half the original fleet of Buffalos are still in service around the world. Considering that production stopped in 1986, this alone is a testament to the aircraft's durability, the loyalty of its users and the support provided by Viking and our partners...

There should be absolutely no doubt that Viking and its support partner Field Aviation are committed to supporting the DHC-5 (CC-115) Buffalo until the year 2015 and longer as maybe necessary.

The fact that Viking, located on Vancouver Island and the Buffalo design holder, was not contacted by any media outlet in order to better understand the support arrangements for the CC-115 Buffalo is, in my opinion, unacceptable [emphasis added].

David Curtis is president and CEO of Viking Air Ltd.

Of course both Viking and Field could go out of business or suddenly decide to stop supporting the Buffalos. But how likely is that? Which is not to say that we should not get new fixed-wing SAR aircraft as soon as possible (update: there are problems with Buffalo component suppliers); but budgets and politics stand in the way. More here, here, here, and here. Possible sole-sourcing attacks in particular may have put cabinet off a decision over a year ago.

Viking has its own ideas about the Buffalo's future, including new builds:

It is our opinion that the Buffalo could be modernized by an all-Canadian team in order for it to serve the specialized mission of the DND for many years to come, at a fraction of the cost of a new fleet of C-27Js.

As we have found with the Twin Otter [Viking is building new ones], there is nothing else produced today that will do what the Buffalo is capable of. This is a Canadian-designed and built aircraft, perfectly suited for a specialized Canadian mission and supported by local Canadian companies.

Instead of looking outside of the country, the best solution is to improve on a good thing by investing in a modernization program to extend the useful life of the existing Buffalo fleet. A Buffalo fleet modernization might be the catalyst to return the Buffalo to production...

I can't see the Air Force going for this. They want one plane for fixed-wing SAR across the country (instead of now the six Buffalos in B.C. and our remaining C-130Es in the rest of the country--I'm pretty sure nineteen are not still flying). I think they also want a plane that can double effectively as a tactical transport within Canada to supplement our C-130Js when the C-130Hs are retired. And I don't think the Buffalo, old or new-build, fits that role.

More at Milnet.ca.

Babbler's update: The most snarktastic line of the day goes to Richard Ball, commenting over at SDA:

What the MSM needs is a powerful online search engine so that reporters can stay in their kitchens, sip coffee, and yet still do due diligence. Ideally, this powerful online search engine would have a snappy name, like, Boggle, or Gobble, or Giggle.

Farking brilliant!

Mark's update: Funny that search engine seems to work so much better for me than our media.