Video duration: 2 min, 14 sec
(Shot of Warrant Officer Éric Henry, with greying hair, sitting in a brown armchair and wearing his blue Royal Canadian Air Force uniform)
Warrant Officer Éric Henry: I’m Warrant Officer Éric Henry. I was in charge of a team over there, with the CF-18s. I was also the team SAMS [Senior Aircraft Maintenance Superintendent], the person who authorizes waivers. Sometimes, there are exceptions, with, say, weapons and the like, and then we have to go off-the-books. A so-called waiver, or authorization, is needed. So, I'll go check with my captain. We send the waivers to Ottawa, we take care of little things like that. Over there, what’s most important is the personnel’s well-being. We need to take care of our men, see to it that they’re set up comfortably and that there are no problems logistics-wise and so forth. So, basically, my job is to ensure that everyone is OK and that we have all of the infrastructure and equipment we need… and the personnel’s well-being – I’m repeating myself – but the personnel’s well-being is very important. If everyone is happy, well, business is good.
(The words “Stormy sky” appear on-screen)
Warrant Officer Éric Henry: When the men went on their missions, often, we would do our aircraft repairs in the evenings and at night. We prepared the planes, mounting them with weapons, then we came up against a really bad storm… with thunder and lightning. At one point, we even had to evacuate. This wasn't long after we had arrived. Earlier, I mentioned that we had a lot of weapons: Mark 82s (general-purpose, explosive bombs), 500 pounds, 1000 pounds, bombs, air-to-air missiles, and more. Then, on the trailers... Six planes had been loaded. And, we had five or six trailers on the side. They were all loaded and on stand-by at the end of the runway. Usually, in Canada, there are too many weapons there. Waivers are needed. That’s why, later on, we had to move the weapons. But that night, there was thunder and lightning. We were evacuating while being bombarded by it.
It was the time of year for huge lightning flashes. Some places were worse than others. But we saw giant flashes just as the thunder cracked. We said to the men: “Clear out!”. So we left and traveled about seven or eight kilometers. Actually, less than that, five or six kilometers, there was a fire station there, on the other side of the base. We parked there and waited for things to calm down. You know, within a 10 kilometer range, if I’m not mistaken - it’s been 5 years since I touched a plane - but within 5 kilometers – I mean 10 kilometers – you have to evacuate, not stay put. Let’s just say, it’s not a great mix [laughter].