The local president of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association says he likes what he saw in a demonstration flight of EADS' CASA C-295 search and rescue plane.

'I like the capability of the aircraft,' Gerry Bruce said Monday after a flight on the plane out of Whitehorse.

'I like the visibility. I like the fact it can do things .... in very short, tight turns; those are important when you actually are in a rescue situation.'

Whitehorse was the second stop of the plane's tour, which began in Victoria last week. It will also travel to Yellowknife, Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit in Nunavut, Goose Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador and then on to Ottawa and Halifax.

The tour is being done after the federal budget approved $1.3 billion for the military's fixed-wing search and rescue planes.

EADS wants to be chosen as the company to replace the current fleet. It's one of two companies looking to get the work.

The Department of National Defence turned down the invitation to view the plane and take part in a flight.

Officials with the search and rescue association (CASARA) and Nav Canada were on board for a second Whitehorse flight late Monday morning.

EADS believes it can replace the military's fleet of approximately 15 search and rescue planes and add more within the $1.3-billion budget.

'You don't need an airplane coming from Winnipeg or coming from Comox (B.C.); is going to take 10, 11, 15 hours to get here,' Paco Calzada, EADS head of marketing for North America, told reporters Monday.

A SAR plane based in the North would provide a much better service for the region, he said. New locations for additional planes would be left up to the federal government.

At the moment, all military search and rescue planes are based in southern Canada.

'It's time to change that,' said Clark Little, a Hill & Knowlton senior associate.

Hill & Knowlton is an Ottawa-based firm working with EADS on the initiative.

'They're making a big change in the program,' Little continued. 'They are going to spend $1.3 billion on fixing it. We believe Canadians deserve an enhanced system and all Canadians deserve that enhanced system.'

The only way to enhance the system in the North is to provide a permanent military search and rescue plane in the North, he said.

With the proposal EADS is looking at bringing forward to the government, that option will be open, said Martin Sefzig, director of Canadian programs for EADS.

'The C-295 is a proven aircraft designed for search and rescue,' he added.

A number of countries already have the planes in use for their military.

'This is not some new development,' Calzada said. 'This is operational right now.'

Sefzig pointed to the technical merits of the planes, including the Canadian content for the engine design. The cabin space of 41 feet, eight inches allows for 71 seats along with equipment, including up to 27 stretchers.

The plane is also certified for the North and can be used in mountain rescues.

While the C-295 may not be the exact model the country needs, Calzada pointed out the aircraft could be built to specifications that would be set out in the tender.

As for how much each plane is worth, 'it depends on the final configuration,' he said.

Sefzig estimated the aircraft to be approximately $30 million each.

The costs of maintaining each of the planes is unknown as it would depend on what's built.

The C-295 features search radar, navigation and communication technology to provide complete and timely awareness of a situation. It can fly for up to 12 hours before refuelling, or a maximum range of 3,000 nautical miles.

Inside the aircraft, seats line the side of the plane, with a wide centre for supplies. Inside the cockpit, monitors feature screens detailing where the flight is in relation to the Whitehorse airport, for example.

Flying over sites like Emerald Lake, pilots demonstrated how the back of the aircraft opens for rescue missions.

Bruce said he believes CASARA will be able to assist in a search with the C-295.

'We're in the North,' he said. 'We don't get serviced unless there's aircraft available. When we do get service, sometimes that aircraft isn't functional when it gets here.'

The C-295 is certified for northern service.

After the flight, Little said EADS and Hill & Knowlton will continue during its tour to work on convincing people a permanent search and rescue military aircraft, the C-295, in the North is a good idea.

'We haven't heard anybody say it's a dumb idea to put these in the North, except in the South,' he said. 'Nobody in the North has said that. So I think that the idea is a solid idea and it's the time to do it.'

The North is becoming more important every year with more flights and a growing tourism market, he pointed out. There's also the proposed MacKenzie Delta pipeline project that could open up the area.

'The North is not going to get smaller as I get older,' he said. 'It's going to get busier and busier.'

Bruce agrees.

'Let's face it: the North has an awful lot of aircraft flying over it lately,' he said. 'And it's only a matter of time, I believe, until we do have a need for search and rescue capability that this aircraft gives us.'

Having such a plane in the North is long overdue, he said, adding while there are financial constraints, EADS says it can provide the aircraft within those dollar limits. If that's true, Bruce would like to see Yukon MP Larry Bagnell follow up with the federal government on it.

Little is expecting the first documents on what the federal government is looking for in replacing its search and rescue aircraft fleet to be out sometime this summer or fall.