SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - David Taylor has been wearing many hats for the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association branch in Yellowknife for 20 years and people are starting to notice his hard work.

David Taylor, zone commander, deputy director and NWT training officer at Civil Air Search and Rescue Yellowknife Unit, walks in terrain on May 3 that he normally surveys from an aircraft during searches. - Heather Lange/NNSL photo

Gerda Groothuizen recently offered Taylor's name to Yellowknifer as an excellent example of compassion and generosity in Yellowknife.

The Civil Air Search and Rescue Association is a non-profit group of volunteers ranging from pilots and airplane owners to people without formal air training. The mandate of the group is to assist federal search and rescue organizations in searches. In Yellowknife the association assists the Department of National Defense, which in turn provides all the funding for the organization's training and operational costs.

Taylor, who, while not a pilot himself, assists pilots by navigating for them. He is the zone commander and deputy director for the organization in Yellowknife, as well as the training officer for the NWT.

He joined CASARA twenty years ago, shortly after moving to Yellowknife, and has some family history in search and rescue.

"The fact that my dad did search and rescue in the North for 50 years ago has nothing to do with it. He got paid as a navigator in the air force and I don't get paid. My mom doesn't understand it," said Taylor with a laugh.

So why spend thirty hours a month volunteering for the last twenty years?

"I had an office job and wanted to see the North," said Taylor. He stuck with the search and rescue association because of the opportunities for developing leadership skills, and to learn methods and skills to be safe out on the land.

He also gives a lot of credit to the 25 active members of CASARA for being great people to work with and also the Coast Guard Auxillary and Yellowknife Search and Rescue organization who are responsible for ground searchers.

The association receives tasks from the Department of Defence (DND), RCMP and senior administrative officers in NWT communities. Members of CASARA can be airborne within one hour of receiving a task, while the DND's Hercules aircraft is stationed in Winnipeg and can take five hours to get to Yellowknife.

Taylor helped in the search for a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft that went missing out of Norman Wells on July 24, 2010, that was piloted by Terry Johnson from Colorado. After an extensive six-day search effort by CASARA, air force, and the Canadian Coast Guard, the aircraft was located 130 km southeast of Norman Wells. The pilot was found dead at the scene of the crash. Many of the search and rescue team members flew right over the crash site and didn't spot the aircraft.

"We flew right over the crash site and never found it. There wasn't much left of the aircraft. It is difficult when we miss something like that," said Taylor.

A search and rescue story with a happier ending happened about ten years ago. A party of canoeists from Alberta were dropped off on the Yellowknife River with the intention of canoeing down to Yellowknife. When their families in Alberta didn't see them on their return flight to Alberta, they called the RCMP.

"We flew up river, and spotted them right away. They had gone back to their launch point after coming to a portage they couldn't cross, and had no way of communication. They tried to flag down passersby but nobody stopped. They were stuck there for about a week," said Taylor.

He said most of their tasks involve searching for people who got stuck somewhere.

"They are stuck and are not going anywhere and can't go anywhere and need somebody to find them. If you leave them long enough, they will freeze or starve to death."

Taylor follows the golden rule – judge not lest ye be judged – when conducting search and rescues.

"It would be easy to pre-judge why people get into a problem but it's not a good idea. Maybe they could have done something different that would have avoided the problem, but it could be me one day and I wouldn't want people to pre-judge," said Taylor.

Jim Tennant, director of CASARA for the NWT, is grateful to Taylor for all the work he has done for CASARA.

"It's been over the top. He taken a very active interest from day one. His background is in mapping and as a result Dave was instrumental in applying GPS mapping for search and rescue patterns," said Tennant.

Taylor said the organization is always looking for new members and those interested can contact him to become a member.

"It's lots of fun, lots of rewarding work and lots of nice people to work with," said Taylor.

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