Hercules in town for training exercise

When Sgt. Al Daigle asked the men around him how many had flown in the Hercules before, he laughed at the answer.

Only two raised their hands.

"We're in for a heavy day," he said.

Daigle was in the Miramichi Saturday as part of a joint training exercise between the Canadian air force and the local Civil Air Search and Rescue Association. He brought a C-130 Hercules with him.

The training exercise was meant to give the civilian search and rescue volunteers experience working with the military on a rescue operation. It's also notorious for making he volunteers sick.

CASARA zone commander Gerry McLean said the chances of getting sick on the plane were pretty high and he noticed only one person who did on a previous exercise went back Saturday.

"They're not getting caught up in that again."

During the exercise, the plane veers back and forth as spotters look out the windows in search of their target. The pilots guide the plane according to the directions the spotters give them. Sharp turns are the norm as they try to pinpoint their target's location from the air.

Volunteer Doug Brown took part in an exercise on the Hercules before and said it was like a roller coaster. "Your worst nightmare."

When asked if he got sick the first time, Brown paused and laughed without answering the question. Even though it was a rough ride, he said he was back Saturday because he was a pilot and loved to fly. "When do you get to fly in a Herc?" he said.

Before the men could go up in the air, Daigle and Maj. Brian Myrah briefed them on the operation. Myrah started by showing them how steep the turns that make everyone sick could be before moving on to explain what the spotters would be doing.

The pilots don't see the what the spotters do so it's the spotters' job to maneuver the plane and guide the pilots to the target, Myrah said.

"That's your job."

Once Myrah finished, Daigle stepped up to explain the rest of the procedures, the altitudes they would be flying at and how to use the radio headsets they needed to communicate with each other.

When they are in the air, it can be hard to explain to someone else what you are looking at so it is important for the spotters to keep their faces up to the windows until someone relieves them, he said. "Even if it's just practice.

Outside, the volunteers walked through the cold wind and shuffled over an icy tarmac to reach the Hercules. Long patches of ice left over from Friday's rain made the walk to the plane treacherous.

Capt. Leighton James from the 14 Wing of 413 squadron, stationed at CFB Greenwood, was the Hercules' pilot, and said he wasn't sure if the exercise would go at first because of the bad weather last week, but the flight up from Greenwood went smooth.

"Hopefully we won't get these gentlemen sick."

When people ask him what it's like to fly the Hercules, he tells them it's just like flying a big Cessna because it acts the same way. "It's really quite easy."

There was plenty of room to spare inside the Hercules as the eight volunteers climbed up into the belly of a plane built to carry close to 100 people or a few armoured vehicles.

Once they were all gathered around a window, Daigle walked the spotters through the mechanics of their seat and gave them tips on how to guide the plane.

Then he passed out the vomit bags.

Daigle advised them to keep the bags on the outside of their flight suits so they could reach them in a hurry if necessary.

The group went back inside for a short break before takeoff and as they waited, Daigle told the volunteers it's not just new people who get sick on the Hercules.

When former Canadiens Bob Gainey's daughter went missing at sea, the weather was so rough all but two of the search and rescue crew got sick.

"They just kept flying."