24PAR526 - Kananaskis Region Rescue Helicopter Contract

Kananaskis Mountain Rescue (KMR), previously known as Kananaskis Country Public Safety (KCPS), requires helicopter services in the Kananaskis Region for the purposes of mountain rescue including Class D capabilities, avalanche control work, weather station maintenance and training missions for mountain rescue responses. KMR currently has an established rate for a rescue aircraft and rescue certified pilot, but does not pay any minimums to the air operator and works on a casual hire basis. This has been the standard operating procedure for the KMR program since its inception in 1978. Class D missions in technical terrain are a challenging flight situation that requires pilots that are engaged in this type of work often enough to be doing it consistently. Currently, Banff National Park and the Kananaskis Region share the on-call rescue aircraft. This ensures pilots are engaged in Class D missions on a fairly frequent basis so they remain proficient.

This rescue helicopter will perform an average of 70-100 Class D rescue missions, 5-10 avalanche control missions for highways/roadways and 70-100 “land and load” based rescues within the Kananaskis region in a typical year.

There is a need to have a minimum of one on-call rescue pilot available (certified as an Alberta Parks rescue pilot, or appropriate equivalent such as Parks Canada), Bell 407 helicopter (more than one aircraft of the same type) equipped with the fixed helicopter parts of a Boost Systems Class D rescue system, a base with operations within the Canmore area (+/- 15km) to ensure optimal response times for injured persons, limited ferry time costs, and pilots with extensive mountain flying and long line experience in the local mountains.

See RFP for additional mandatory criteria and details.