Notice – Civil Air Search and Rescue Association Operating out of Breaburn

The Whitehorse Zone of the Yukon’s portion of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association will be conducting search exercises August 4th. They are apart of a national organization that is affiliated with the Royal Canadian Air Force and have a mandate to assist with searching for missing and downed aircraft.

Although not part of primary mandate, the Whitehorse Zone for some time has been continuing to look for a missing US Air Force C-54D Skymaster.  This aircraft went missing on January 26th, 1950 with 44 persons on board. It remains one of the greatest single losses of life in US air force history. Despite major searches at the time, no trace of the aircraft has been found since.

The aircraft was flying the northern staging route and last checked in at Snag and subsequently failed to report at Aishihik, which was its next expected waypoint.  All of our searches to date near Snag have been unsuccessful. Based on its planned routing, an area of high probability is around Porphyry Peak, at approximately 61.6855 N/137.746 N.

The Civil Air Search and Rescue Association will be flying over the area to perform search patterns with the goal of trying to locate any remnants of this aircraft. They will be operating out of Braeburn airport and have no plans to land in the area.

We also wish to ensure your citizens know what we are doing as we can appreciate that they may be out on the land while we are operating in the area at relatively low altitudes.

The Association plans to fly August 5th, with a weather delay day of August 6th.