Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Jul 03/98) - Vast open spaces provide the thrill of nature, but to unlucky venturers, they also bring the terror of being stranded.

And nothing could make getting lost more frightening than if no search and rescue crews were trained to locate lost parties.

That is why the Canadian Forces make at least one trip to Inuvik every year to monitor and train volunteers willing to be on-call in case they are needed to help find plane crashes or lost kayakers.

"What drives me is being able to bring solace to people's families," said search and rescue technician J.P. Cossette.

Seven Inuvik residents joined the air force officers on the June 27 outing, and training co-ordinator Chris Garven said the area still needs more search and rescue volunteers.

Training will start in late August or September and involves eight weekly three-hour sessions, two of which will be in a plane.

Volunteers will learn vital spotting skills.

When area residents go missing, such as a kayaker in Paulatuk three years ago, spotters board Canadian Forces planes that sweep the area altitude of 150, 300 and 450 metres.

When at 150 metres, spotters scour the area within 800 metres.

At 300 metres, spotters broaden their range to about 1.6 kilometres. And at 450 metres, spotters have a visual field of 4.8 kilometres.

During a pre-flight video, volunteers learned how to first identify their position on the plane and then to immediately tell the pilot to turn left or right, if they believe there is something to look closer at.

"Keep eyes on the object even if (the pilot) does a turn," Cossette said. "Look for a prominent object around it."

Cossette stressed how to scan the search area and how not to refocus vision on a watch or anything inside the airplane while scanning.

"After rotation, close your eyes and relax -- don't read books or anything, you want to just rest your eyes."

Eleven-year veteran Derek Lindsay is the longest-serving volunteer on the spotting force and has gone on real search and rescue missions over the years.

He urges people to consider giving their time to learn how to spot in case their services are needed one day.