RCAF officials to evaluate CASARA at Niagara District Airport

Nov 28, 2025

The local unit of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) Niagara will be under evaluation on December 11 as the community volunteers undertake an operational search assignment in the Niagara Region.

The assignment will involve assessing an aerial search aircraft’s effectiveness in locating a simulated target – an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) – then guiding a ground electronic search team to the target. The challenge is for the two crews’ interoperability and communications to effectively find and accurately report the target site information to additional rescue resources.

Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and CASARA Ontario executives will also conduct an operational evaluation of the CASARA Niagara Unit’s administrative services, training standards, equipment and logistics preparedness at Niagara CASARA’s headquarters located at Niagara District Airport. Evaluations are conducted every two years for operational readiness to ensure the community volunteers meet or exceed professional standards.

“The ultimate goal here is to have professionally trained volunteers dedicated to preserving life. Our main job is to look for people who are in harm’s way and bring them back to their loved ones,” says Capt. Marty Zimmer, CASARA’s liaison officer between the organization and the RCAF.

While Capt. Zimmer evaluates the air operations Warrant Officer Glenn Hood, a Search and Rescue Technician, will accompany and evaluate the ground operations. Both are members of the RCAF 424 Squadron based at Canadian Armed Forces base at Trenton, Ontario. They oversee the unit’s training to ensure CASARA can support the RCAF in the search for missing aircraft.

“One of the challenges we have as an organization is that Canada is a huge area and we have limited resources,” Zimmer said. “CASARA provides additional highly trained and qualified search and rescue crews, that are readily available across the country to aid in our response.”

With nine units across Ontario Terry Nord, CASARA Ontario Operations Director, says “When an emergency occurs a critical element is time for rescue crews to reach those in need. The benefit CASARA units provide to the RCAF is local response time and local knowledge.”

Zimmer said, “During the evaluation we will be looking to see that CASARA crews are working together, following proper procedures and safely conducting operations to ultimately locate the beacon and target.”

If successful, the unit will remain operational and available to receive taskings from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton to support future search and rescue missions across the region.

CASARA is dedicated to providing air search support services for downed aircraft, humanitarian efforts, and promoting Canada’s SAR program across Canada. Volunteers are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.