This weekend La Niña got to partake in another aero adventure; this time with a helicopter: HAWC the Helicopter.
I don’t know how many of you know HAWC’s history — but the helicopter came about after the death of Constable Rick Sonnenberg who was killed in 1993 as he laid a spike belt during a high speed pursuit chase. It was Rick’s sister who led the campaign to get CPS a helicopter and HAWC1 came to fruition in 1995. Recently Calgary raised the funds need to put HAWC2 into the air.
During my time as a civilian employee I got to partake in pursuit training — as well as a ride along and sit along (in dispatch). I did not, however, make it to the fly along. So, La Niña is one step ahead of me because she got to actually sit inside HAWC1.
She looks lost in the cockpit…..
BTW not to nit-pick, but i think that’s HAWC2 (and for all of you who may be wondering, its a Eurocopter EC120)
It’s HAWC1 — I asked when they changed the colour (HAWC used to be blue and white) and he said HAWC1 is just a call sign and this was their new HAWC1. Plus, there was a big HAWC1 emblazoned on the tail. Let me see if I got a photo of that.
Ok. I did a bit of research on HAWC and discovered that after CPS purchased HAWC2 they looked at ways of replacing the older model HAWC1 with a newer version – to streamline repairs and part purchases. This article has a bit more detail. It looks like this came to fruition. I’ve added a third photo above with the hawk on the side. I didn’t get a shot of the tail.
PS – Ian, I need to chat with you about something. Let me know when you are in town next and when we could get together.