75 years over the ocean

OPERATIONS

At each Servicio de Aviación station there is always a helicopter on SAR alert, ready to take off in five minutes. At Corrientes and Posadas, the AS355 Ecureuils mainly perform support missions as part of the Escudo Norte (Northern Shield) operation against illegal traffic and smuggling on the borders with Brazil and Paraguay. They also perform SAR, medical evacuation, humanitarian assistance during floods, firefighting with Bambi Buckets, contamination control and other duties over the Paraná basin rivers. Both helicopters are equipped with a Nightsun searchlight and a FLIR Systems Ultra 8500, rescue hoist and armour on the floor.

The main activity is search and rescue operations. Prefecto Julio Weimann, chief of the Operational Department, said that, when an aircraft locates a casualty “they relay the symptoms and the doctor of the prefectura evaluates them by radio and determines whether the patient needs to be transferred to another ship, be brought to port or, if he is critically injured, needs to be rescued. Normally we perform between five and eight evacuations per month at the two air stations on the Atlantic coast, as well as those we do in Buenos Aires.”

During all rescues a fixed-wing aircraft will accompany the helicopters. It arrives in advance and starts to make the necessary co-ordination with the captain of the ship, so that when the helicopter arrives all it has to do is lower the basket or stretcher, evacuate and leave.

“A work boat has many antennas and rigging, so they have to clear the entire deck, bring in the crew and have communications between them, because the helicopter also produces a lot of noise,” said Weimann. “It’s the riskiest part of the operation, because it is taking place above the ship. You are flying at a minimum speed of between 5 and 8 knots and hanging between 30 and 150 feet above the deck. It is operating inside what is referred to as the ’dead man's envelope’, where there is a serious risk you could lose the helicopter.”

The helicopter crew usually consists of a pilot, co-pilot and mechanic who operates the hoist. In case of medical evacuations, they also carry a doctor and two rescue swimmers.

As the Pumas were retired in 2015, they were replaced by a single Airbus H225. With the intention of start replacing the CASA 212 in 2012, a Beechcraft 350i configured for transport arrived, followed in 2013 by a 350iER for maritime patrol. Also, to replace a Schweizer 300C lost on January 19, 2010, a new example was received in 2014. The modernization of three Dauphins to AS365N3+ status was contracted with Helibrás in Brazil in 2017. In December 2020, the first modernized example was delivered, while the second arrived in November 2021 and the third a month later.

Current operations

The Servicio de Aviación depends on the Dirección de Operaciones, part of the

Dirección General de Seguridad. Currently, the fi xed-wing aircraft fl eet comprises two CASA 212-300s, two 212-300PMs, one Beechcraft 350i for transport, one 350iER for maritime patro, one Piper Aztec, two Piper PA-28s and two PA-28 Archer LXs. As for helicopters, the service operates one Airbus H225, two AS365N2 Dauphins, three AS365N3+ Dauphins, two Ecureuils and fi ve Schweizer 300Cs.

The service has its command headquarters at San Fernando, where the maintenance of the aircraft and the Schweizer 300C is also performed. Also on site is the Centro de Extensión Profesional Aeronáutica (CEPA) aviation school. Maintenance of the H225, Dauphin and Ecureuil helicopters is performed at Puerto Nuevo, with at least one Dauphin always remaining on alert.

MARITIME PATROL

With the CASAs and Beechcraft 350iER, the main mission is maritime patrol, especially targeting illegal fi shing in the Argentine Exclusive Economic Zone. When the aircraft detects a ship that has breached the 200-mile zone, they try to communicate with the crew to inform them about the infraction, taking pictures and video with geolocation, which provides enough evidence to issue a penalty fee on the owners of the ship. Sometimes, a patrol ship is sent to board the fi shing vessel and inspect it, but the crew do not always collaborate and many times they try to escape.

With the CASA 212, which doesn’t have an integrated camera, the crew uses a handheld camera with a GPS, which means they must fl y very close to the ship to take the pictures. In the case of the Beech 350iER, they can use the FLIR Star Safi re III, so they don’t need to fl y too close and can make the images from an altitude of 6,000 feet and 10 miles. The infrared camera also allows them to take images during the night and the turret has a rangefi nder to calculate the exact position of the ship. This makes it possible to fl y and control the area without the vessels noticing that the aircraft is patrolling. Thanks to the additional fuel tanks behind the engines, the aircraft can fl y for up to nine hours, having a minimum speed for visual search of 135 knots.

The aircraft is also equipped with a Telephonics RDR1700B radar, two satellite communications systems and can access all the information from the systems console, including radar, FLIR turret and communications. All of this data is recorded for use as proof of what took place during the operations. The radar compares the information of the contacts with the AIS report from the ships, although sometimes the crew turn off the AIS or use the name of a diff erent ship. In fl ight, the aircarft searches for those radar contacts without an AIS report, as they are considered targets of interest.

The 350iER has an opening to drop smoke markers or fl ares, and a bigger one to drop a liferaft. During rescues, the crew fi rst drops a smoke marker to check the wind force and direction, they then make a four-minute circuit and drop the liferaft, which has a 300-meter rope attached to help survivors clamber aboard. Above left: The PA-40 was the fi rst Dauphin received by the force, in 1995, and was modernized in 2021

Above right: The Dauphin has been serving with the force for more than 25 years and is expected to remain in use for at least another 15. There are plans to buy more for the fl eet.

Left: The Dauphin is the main rescue helicopter of the force, with fi ve on strength. On January 19, 2002, a single helicopter rescued 24 crewmembers of a stricken fi shing vessel on four fl ights

All of the pilots and mechanics of the Servicio de Aviación receive their training at the CEPA under the auspices of the Dirección de Educación of the force, with logistics handled using the Piper PA-28s. Once the pilots fi nish the course, they receive their ground training by fl ying fl y the CASA 212, after which a selection is made of the fl yers who will go on to operate helicopters. The rotorcraft training course lasts a further year.

Stations

Besides the bases at San Fernando and Puerto Nuevo, the service has four other stations, one at Comodoro Rivadavia in Patagonia, which was opened in 1990, another at Mar del Plata in Buenos Aires province, which opened in 1996, and two on the Paraná River – one at Corrientes and the other at Posadas, both opened in 2013. The Airbus H225 together with a CASA 212 are deployed to Mar del Plata, where a new hangar and facilities were inaugurated in 2019. At Comodoro Rivadavia there’s a Dauphin and the maritime patrol Beechcraft 350iER.

Future

For the future, the force currently has plans to acquire two more H225s and to replace the remaining CASA 212. One of the C-212-300PMs has already been retired and the others should be following suit soon.

Regarding new stations, there are proposals to create one at Ushuaia in Patagonia, at the extreme southern end of the country, which will be important for operations over the Drake Passage and close to Antarctica. Other locations under consideration are Viedma in Río Negro province and Rosario on the Paraná River. Also, the possibility of establishing stations at Río Gallegos in Santa Cruz province or Río Grande in Tierra del Fuego are being investigated.