19 Wing Comox has been without Search and Rescue (SAR) airplanes since the beginning of 2025, when the last two Hercules aircraft, along with their crews, were removed from the base’s operations.
The two Hercules were being used as coverage due to delays with 19 Wing obtaining its new Kingfisher rescue planes. With the removal of the Hercules on the island, flights for Search and Rescue were being run out of Winnipeg, where they still had a Hercules SAR plane available.
Starting May 1 though, the CC-295 Kingfisher will assume SAR alerts at 19 Wing as the fixed-wing SAR responding aircraft in the Search and Rescue Region (SRR) Victoria.
The SAR alert means that 442 Squadron will have a CC-295 Kingfisher, along with the CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and an aircrew ready to respond to SAR tasks 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
This will be done by Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Victoria on the established alert protocols, which is for the aircraft to be airborne within two hours of receiving an alert. Typically, Monday to Friday between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., the Kingfisher will be airborne within 30 minutes.
As of March 2025, the Kingfisher was “released to service,” which meant that while it was not ready to maintain regular SAR alerts, it was a SAR resource that JRCC Victoria could employ in missions if necessary. This has occurred to a limited degree already. But starting on May 1, there will be enough aircraft, personnel and resources to enable the Kingfisher to hold regular SAR alert in SRR Victoria.
This is different from Initial Operating Capability (IOC). IOC of any capability means the point at which it can be employed for its defined mission based on established criteria, which in the case of the Kingfisher, is a more significant level of readiness than maintaining the single line of SAR tasking that will commence on May 1. The Kingfisher is expected to reach IOC in 2025/26.
